R etired journalist and football referee Ken Chaplin died yesterday. He was 89 .

Chaplin, who had been ailing for some time, had the distinction of serving as press secretary, across political party lines, to four Jamaican prime ministers — Hugh Shearer, Michael Manley, Edward Seaga, and PJ Patterson.

His sterling work in journalism and sports resulted in him being invested with the Order of Distinction in both Officer and Commander classes by the Government.

He also received awards from the Press Association of Jamaica, which he served as secretary for several years; and the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF).

Chaplin was a referee for 37 years, 18 of them as a Federation Internationale de Football Association (Fifa) official. He was also a referee inspector and chairman of the JFF Referees Commission.

Over his many years in journalism, Chaplin served as head of the Editorial Department at the State news agency, Jamaica Information Service (JIS), which underwent a name change to the Agency for Public Information in the late-1970s.

When the Government changed after the 1980 General Election, the entity was returned to its original name.

After he retired from the JIS , Chaplin wrote a weekly column for the Jamaica Observer.

He was also the author of a biography of West Indies cricketer Collie Smith, called The Happy Warrior.