RJRGLEANER mourns loss of CEO

Chairman of the RJRGLEANER Communications Group Joseph M. Matalon has reacted with shock and sadness at the sudden passing of the media conglomerate’s chief executive officer, Anthony Smith.

Smith, who was appointed CEO in January of last year, passed away on Sunday morning after a brief period of illness.

An obviously shaken Matalon told The Gleaner yesterday that Smith’s passing has hit his family and the group hard.

“As you may imagine, it was devastating news for me personally as someone who has worked closely with Tony over the last few years; and for the entire group it really has been a devastating shock, totally unexpected. So, we have to be strong now for his family, and all of us, I believe, need to keep his immediate and extended family in our thoughts and prayers in what as you may imagine is a very, very difficult time,” the RJRGLEANER chairman said.

“I had been in constant contact with his immediate family over the last 72 hours. I know that they are suffering a very, very difficult moment for which my sympathies go out to them.”

Smith was married with a son.

He joined RJRGLEANER on October 1, 2022 as deputy CEO – print and digital before being appointed CEO in January 2024.

“Tony did an incredible job for the two years that he has been running the organisation. He became a personal friend [and] frankly, I will miss him a great deal. The duty of the board and management right now is to look after the family and the arrangements that will need to be made for Tony and also to, in light of this very sudden event, stabilise the group. Everybody is going to be very shocked and moved by this development.

Diligent and disciplined

Matalon told The Gleaner that the board trusted Smith with the new direction the group needed to move into.

“I think he has had a tremendously clear thought process around the matters he had to deal with as a part of what was the required transformation of the group. He was very diligent and disciplined about execution, as he put together an excellent executive management and senior management team that will need to step into the breach and stabilise the organisation and deal with the hurt and shock that will be felt by a wide cross section of members across the group.”

Matalon said that following Smith’s illness a few weeks ago, the board had scheduled a meeting to plot the way forward during his absence, but was stunned by the escalation in his illness.

Smith was an engineer by training and held executive roles in telecommunications in Jamaica and the wider Caribbean, including at Cable & Wireless and Massy Technologies Limited.

karen.madden@gleanerjm.com