Graham Hicks is a freelance journalist and occasional commentator, a family man, lover of good food, nature, gardening, golfing and canoeing.
Now fully retired, his full-time journalism career with the Edmonton Sun, from 1981 to 2010, was spent thinking, talking and dreaming about the city in which he has lived and worked for 44 years, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
From 2010 to 2020, he continued to contribute two columns a week to the Edmonton Sun on a freelance basis, being Hicks on Biz and The Weekly Dish. In June of 2020, he decided to fully retire from those twice-a-week deadlines.
He is currently co-authoring three books, including a biography of Monsignor Bill Irwin, founder of Edmonton's Catholic Social Services. Its publication will be a highlight of Catholic Social Service's 2021's 60th anniversary celebration.
His previous five-times-a-week town-crier style column “Hicks on Six” in the Edmonton Sun and the Edmonton Sun online from 1992 to 2010 was considered Edmonton’s best-read newspaper column.
Hicks still occasionally writes in his own HicksBiz.com blog.
Graham worked at the Ottawa Citizen, Brandon Sun and Edmonton Journal from 1973 to 1981, before joining the Edmonton Sun in the fall of 1981.
After entertainment, news and political writing assignments, he moved to Page Six as “Hicks On Six” columnist in 1992.
In the community, Graham was the founder and spokesman for the annual Edmonton Sun “Adopt-A-Teen” Christmas project, providing Christmas gifts for over 8,000 teens from low-income Edmonton families.
He founded and organized the Edmonton Sun's annual ATCO/Edmonton Sun Christmas Charity Auction, last held in 2018.
In 2003 Hicks chaired the $2 million Catholic Social Services “Sign of Hope” Campaign. He continues to volunteer with the social agency and currently sits on its board of directors.
He is a past chair of the River Valley Alliance (RVA) Advisory Committee. The RVA is dedicated to extending Edmonton's magnificent North Saskatchewan river valley park system, south to Devon and north to Fort Saskatchewan, creating the world's longest river valley park.
Graham has received the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal for community service, Sun Media’s J.D. Creighton Award for lifetime achievement, the Grant MacEwan College’s Distinguished Citizen Award and The Rotary Club of Edmonton 2008 Integrity Award.
On the eve of his retirement from the Edmonton Sun, the City of Edmonton and then-Mayor Steve Mandel declared November 8, 2010 to be "Graham Hicks Day" in Alberta's capital city. On Jan. 2, 2011, the Edmonton Sun published a Graham Hicks retirement special section.
His previous books include “Making Money The Old-Fashioned Way,” co-authored with financial advisor Ron Hiebert of Scotia-McLeod and a series of soft-cover Graham Hicks’ Joke Books, with the proceeds going to charity.
Graham has been happily married to Maria for 35 years. They have three adult daughters, a teacher, an actor and a videographer, plus three beautiful grandchildren, aged 9 months to three years..
Graham can be contacted at graham.hicks1950@gmail.com, 780 707 6379
(Last updated, June, 2022)