Ken Owen: Legendary newsman, mentor and irascible genius
Ken Owen, the legendary newsman who died this morning, was my editor on the Sunday Express, Business Day and the Sunday Times. He was also my mentor and friend.
We stayed connected until just a few weeks ago, having met up fairly regularly in recent years when he and his wife Kate were in Paris or I in Cape Town.
The cancer diagnosis came shortly before his 80th birthday in mid February and his last social gathering was his birthday party, an occasion he used to shake his finger at those of his guests who may have held onto political philosophies he deemed intellectually slack and dangerous; nobody would have expected anything different of him.
He made it clear there that he was determined to have a dignified exit. In the days after his party he seemed liberated; a few things that had gnawed at him for years no longer mattered.
Ken played a central role in my time as a journalist and newsroom manager.
When I was 21 he hired me to join the South African Associated Newspapers (SAAN) cadet training course and a week or two after he’d signed my employment contract, SAAN’s embattled management cancelled the course. Ken was angry about the way it was managed and told me I could sue or he would train me himself in the newsroom.
I took the latter option and suspect I learnt far more in my years working for him than any single course could have taught me.
Although many of my colleagues disliked him, they would grudgingly admire his instinct for a story, his braveness when challenged and his craftsmanship with words. His intellectual strength and his telling of truth to power demanded to be admired.
I have many anecdotes that show a different side to the legendary editor Ken. An important one was his quiet support for colleagues in the newsroom fighting drink or drug addictions.
At his 80th birthday he spoke about his own alcoholism: “I would not have reached the age of 40, or even 36, but for the tender and loving care I received from a bunch of drunks when I crawled into Alcoholics Anonymous 45 years ago.”
I know a handful of colleagues who today can say that if it were not for him, they would not be around either. And there are many of us who would not be the journalists we are today without the irascible genius that was Ken Owen.