Mike Filey wrote millions of words over the years on our City’s ever-changing history.
Filey was a favourite with Toronto Sun readers who enjoyed his weekly The Way We Were column on Sundays detailing our history and people loved it.
He was kind to his dedicated readers across the GTA, revealing bits of history about where they lived and what was there before. He wrote many articles on the history of Etobicoke, which residents loved.
His wife Yarmila said Mike passed before dawn on July 30, 2022 at the age of 80.
Mike through the years became known as the unofficial historian for Toronto and was the author of two dozen books, one detailing the history of the TTC streetcars.
“I have a couple of his books,” said former Toronto Sun colleague Ian Robertson. “He helped with information for a couple of my stamp columns a few years back, plus a travel piece about old TTC streetcars in San Francisco that I wrote around 2018.”
Mike was a fixture at the old Toronto Telegraph’s microfilm reader in the library for many years, recalled then Sun main librarian, Julie Kirsh.
“He always said that nothing changed over the years….the weather, taxes and diets were consistent news,” Kirsh said. “He was a nice man.”
“Mike Filey always had a pleasant joke or item to share with others, said Tom Godfrey, Publisher of The South Etobicoke News. “We worked side by side for many years and he knew more of the history of Toronto than most people.”
“He was one of the most likeable people ever,” said Postmedia Chair Paul Godfrey, who knew Filey since he was chair then Metro Council in the 1970s. “He loved the city just about more than anybody else.”
He was an encyclopedia or, in today’s terms, a human search engine.
“Mike Filey was a guardian of Toronto’s history who always helped put the present into perspective,” said Mayor John Tory. “His love for Toronto and its history made him a regular and very welcome caller to me as Mayor.
He, like me, was awarded the Jean Hibbert Memorial Award for his columns by the Etobicoke Historical Society.
Filey was a graduate of North Toronto Collegiate Institute and later, from the chemical technology program at then Ryerson Polytechnical Institute. He grew up near the Honest Ed’s discount store at Bathurst and Bloor Sts., and later worked at Ontario’s Ministry of Environment.