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Peter Jennings awarded Order of Canada

OTTAWA, Aug. 11 (UPI) -- ABC News anchor Peter Jennings received Canada's highest civilian honor just days before he died of lung cancer, it was reported Thursday.

Jennings, who died Sunday in New York, was born in Toronto and raised in Ottawa, Ontario. He moved to the United States in 1964 and kept his Canadian citizenship even after he became a U.S. citizen in 2003.

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Jennings was notified by letter shortly before his death he had been named to the Order of Canada, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported Thursday.

The nomination was approved June 29 by the Order's investiture committee, headed by Canada's Chief Justice Beverly McLaughlin.

The governor general's spokesman, Randy Mylyk, said Jennings' children will accept the honor for their father at a date yet to be determined.

"It will never be worn by Peter but it will be a symbol that his country never forgot him as one of us," Mylyk said.

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