OCM Newsletter December 2017 OCM Newsletter April - June 2019 | Page 2

A Caribbean
Media Legend
Passes On
MR. HAROLD FITZHERBERT HOYTE GCM, D.LITT
FORMER DIRECTOR, ONE CARIBBEAN MEDIA LIMITED AND THE NATION GROUP’S FOUNDER | 1941-2019
On Monday, May
27, 2019 Nation’s
Founder, Editor
Emeritus and
former Director,
One Caribbean
Media Limited,
Mr. Harold Hoyte,
D.Litt was laid to
rest.
Mr. Hoyte, who passed away on May
12th, was an eminent Barbadian
journalist and served as Editor in Chief
at the Nation Publishing Company for
30 years. In this capacity, he made
the Nation Newspaper the number
one newspaper in Barbados. As a result
of his achievements he was the recipient
of numerous honours including, the
Gold Crown of Merit by the Government
of Barbados, and an Honorary Doctor or
Letters Degree from the University of the
West Indies.
PAGE 2 | APRIL TO JUNE 2019
On hearing the news of his death, the Prime
Minister of Barbados the Honourable Mia
Mottley, Q.C., M.P. referred to Mr. Hoyte as
a “person that so many could respect and
mix with”. She also said that “he loved
his country and was never afraid to speak
truth to power in its fervent defence”.
Ms Mottley said that she will “miss him as
a warm generous and committed human
being”.
Nation founder, Chairman and
Editor Emeritus Harold Hoyte in
his younger years.
Harold was a staunch defender of Press
Freedom and remained steadfastly
committed to professional journalism.
It was because of this, in 2008, the OCM
Group took the decision to name one
of the two scholarships after him, ie the
Harold Hoyte (Masters in Journalism)
Scholarship.
Elizabeth
Thompson,
Barbados’
Ambassador to the United Nations and a
long-time friend of Hoyte delivered the
Eulogy and his funeral. She referred to
him as “wonderful, bright, articulate, and
engaging.” She also said that he “loved
a good argument, was intellectually
stimulating and had a good sense of
humour.” She credited Hoyte with being
among a group of individuals that “built
The Nation to ensure that Barbadians had
a mirror to themselves … so that those
who were voiceless, those who were not
represented by the news of the day, those
who were underprivileged and poor and
felt they had no place in society could find
a place and a voice and an expression.”
Ambassador Thompson also spoke of how
many lives he touched and how much
he loved and was loved by his family,
employees, friends, and the people of
Barbados.