KINGSTON, Jamaica — Prime Minister Andrew Holness has expressed “deep sense of loss, shock, and regret” at the death of Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Jamaica Information Service, Ian Boyne.

Boyne died this morning at the University Hospital of the West Indies.

Boyne entered the journalism profession in 1975. For the past 30 years, he has been inspiring the nation as he shared remarkable stories of adversity, stories of triumph, resilience, and excellence through his television programme ‘Profile’.

“Ian’s contribution to media is admirable and represents the power of good journalism. He has distinguished himself as a fair, fearless and balanced commentator. Ian was simply the consummate communicator. He has helped to guide and craft national speeches for the offices of the governor general, the prime minister and leader of the opposition across political administrations. His guiding hand, maturity and calm demeanour will be greatly missed,” said Holness.

Boyne served as Chief State Liaison under Holness, as well as former Prime Minister’s Bruce Golding and Portia Simpson Miller.

Boyne has had a long career with the JIS, first joining the entity when it was known as the Agency for Public Information (API) in 1976 as feature writer and television broadcaster.

In 1983 he became the press secretary/speech writer to the then Minister of Industry and Commerce, Douglas Vaz and from then to 2002 worked with every Minister of Industry under successive administrations as speech writer/public relations consultant, after which he re-joined the JIS in 2002.

“Ian was a true and genuine man. I have benefitted from our conversations on politics, religion, sport, health and many other areas. He read widely and was able to bring his tremendous knowledge to simple interactions which would result in enhanced perspectives. I consider his passing a great loss. He was not only a professional, he was my friend,” said the prime minister.

Meanwhile, Information Minister Senator Ruel Reid praised the professionalism and patriotism of Boyne, saying he had served the Government and people of Jamaica well through the JIS, across political administrations and through his television programme Profile, in which he highlighted the successes of Jamaicans who had overcome many challenges.

“We at the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information certainly benefitted from his professionalism, guidance and support for so many of our initiatives,” Reid said.

He also noted that Boyne yearned for improvement in Jamaica’s social capital and the transformation of the lives of Jamaicans to be more peaceful, loving, kind and productive.

“Truly he was an inspiration. His passing is a great loss to me personally, a great loss to our Ministry, a great loss to the Government and the entire Jamaica.”

Boyne was also a columnist for the Jamaica Gleaner newspaper. His opinion pieces won him numerous awards including Opinion Journalist of the year on several occasions.