Journalist Hartley Neita dies
Veteran journalist Hartley Neita died just before noon yesterday at the home of one of his sons in St Andrew. He was 78.
Neita, an author and columnist during his lifetime, also served as press secretary to several heads of government, including the People’s National Party’s Norman Manley and the Jamaica Labour Party’s Sir Alexander Bustamante and Hugh Shearer.
Fellow journalist Ken Jones, reminiscing with the Observer about the man he called ‘friend’, yesterday described Neita as a “good journalist and an even better friend”.
“His family and mine grew up together; we were like family, not just friends, and I am really sad to hear of his passing,” he said.
Theatre personality Buddy Pouyat, in his reflection, said Neita was irreplaceable.
“He was one of the top Jamaican scholars, a very nice, respectable man and worked on both sides of the political fence and he was a gentleman,” Pouyat told the Observer.
“I don’t think we are going to be able to replace Hartley Neita. He was a sincere, honest fellow, a top intellect,” he said.
Yesterday, the Press Association of Jamaica (PAJ) expressed regret at Neita’s passing and offered its condolences to his relatives and friends.
The umbrella body for journalists recalled that last year it honoured Neita, along with two other veteran media practitioners, for serving the field of journalism for 60 years.
The PAJ also pointed out that Neita began his career in media by writing short stories, movie reviews and sports reports for The Star newspaper in 1947; and on retirement from the public service in 1981, he returned to his true love – journalism.
At the time of his death, Neita was a columnist for The Gleaner since 1993, and author of the long running feature, This Day in Our Past, which began in 1996 as Historical Highlights, the PAJ said in a statement.
“It was the sort of column that has been informed by his knowledge of how government administration works and reflected a keen sense of cultural matters and relationship of the Jamaican people in many spheres,” the PAJ statement quoted Ken Allen, retired editor-in-chief of The Gleaner.
