Jean-V. Dufresne, an eminent Quebec journalist whose career spanned almost five decades, died in hospital after a cardiac arrest Saturday. He was 70.

``History and events, from hockey to the House of Commons, do not exist without words that give them life,'' he once wrote.

It was Dufresne who first described Robert Bourassa as ``an underfed...accountant whose back droops like a statistical curve,'' a phrase that followed the former premier to his death.

Dufresne also wrote: ``Where Pierre Trudeau was all plane geometry, the pure esthetic of the straight line, Robert Bourassa is the arabesque of the pretzel. It leads nowhere and everywhere at the same time.''

Dufresne was awarded the Jules Fournier Prize in 1989 for his exemplary contribution to the French language.

He joined Le Journal de Montreal as city columnist in 1990. He remained there until his retirement four years ago.

He was twice managing editor of Le Magazine Maclean, which later became l'Actualite, and was often heard as a broadcaster on radio and television.

Dufresne married art teacher Helene Gagne in 1954 and although they divorced in 1970, their relationship survived the birth of his son, Alexis, to Quebec singer Louise Forestier.

He added the V. to his name in 1959 to avoid being confused with his journalist cousin, also Jean Dufresne, when he came back to Montreal to work at La Presse. He said it stood for Victor.

Raymond Brassard, managing editor of the Montreal Gazette, said Saturday of Dufresne: ``He was one of the few people in the business you could call a gentleman _ an elegant writer, well-spoken, just a beautiful person.