Former General manager of the now defunct Trinidad and Tobago Television (TTT) has died in Canada after a prolonged illness. His wife, Angela, was at his bedside when he passed away in hospital in the city of Oshawa, Ontario. He was 71.John spent more than 40 years in the media and advertising.
His career began in 1964 in the Promotions and Commercial Production Department of Trinidad &Tobago Television.
In 1970 he was promoted to the position of Commercial Production Director and in 1974 to Assistant Programme Director.
In 1976 he left TTT and joined Carib Lager Brewery as Advertising Coordinator and after just two years, moved to Lonsdale Advertising as an Account Executive. In 1978, John was invited to rejoin TTT as Programme Director and accepted the position which he held for about 41/2 years before being promoted to General Manager in 1983.
During his stint in television, he was exposed to many areas of the industry from producing to directing and from news and sport to announcing.
As Programme Director and later on as General Manager he represented TTT as Vice President of the Caribbean Broadcasting Union and served for four years on the Standing Committee of the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association.
John left TTT in 1987 but he continued his career in the broadcasting industry by joining AVM Television as its General Manager, a position that he held for close to a year before deciding to migrate to Canada.
In 1997 he returned to Trinidad and joined the Tourism &Industrial Development Company (TIDCO) as Manager, Corporate Communications and after five years with TIDCO, returned to television as Chief Executive Officer of the National Broadcasting Network of Trinidad &Tobago.
John enjoyed and followed most sports with golf which he played, football and cricket topping his list of all time favourites.
He remained a full-time member of the Queen's Park Cricket Club and was a past member of the St. Andrew's Golf Club.
John died on his 71st birthday, October 24. He is survived by his wife, Angela, and children Daniella Barsotti and Reina Tarzia, his brother, Frank Barsotti and grandsons, Adam and Logan James, Luciana Tarzia and sons-in-law Thomas James and Amedeo Tarzia.
The Mass of Christian Burial will take place at 1:00 pm on Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2008 at St. Francis de Sales Roman Catholic Church, 1001 Ravenscroft Road, Ajax, Ontario. Arrangements have been entrusted to McEachine Funeral Home - phone: 905-428-8488.
Read John's account of the early days of TTT
Read more about John and his former colleagues at TTT at TTT Pioneers
This is the note his daughter sent to family and friends:
Good Morning,
I just wanted to inform you all, on behalf of the Barsotti family, that dad passed away peacefully with his dear wife at his side last night. Thank you for all your prayers and wonderful warm wishes. It was a pleasure hearing from all of you these last 8 weeks. Dad will be missed by MANY.
May he rest in peace,
Love,
Reina Barsotti Tarzia
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