T&T journalist Therese Mills dies

Therese Mills (Newsday photo)

One of the most powerful women in the media anywhere in the world, Mrs Therese Mills, of Newsday, died today (January 1, 2014).

Although you know that such a day would come, when it comes, it is still shocking and sad.

One of the first persons I met when I entered the Guardian in 1977, was Mrs Mills. I must say, she was one of those who really taught me journalism and how you must never fail at getting "the story". I owe her for the success I achieved throughout the last 36 years. RIP Mrs Therese Mills.

Francis Joseph | Press Secretary, Office of the Prime Minister
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"She kept a low public profile, but she was a trailblazer for women in journalism: she came into the profession, and rose to the top, in an era when there were very few women in the field. Today it’s easy to underestimate how much of a pioneer she was in that regard, but she was a journalist for over half a century and she would have walked a lonely road in those early years.”

T&T Guardian editor-in-chief Judy Raymond (Source: Guardian)
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“Mrs Mills has had a huge influence, which has yet to be properly recorded and fully acknowledged...She was a first-class journalist. She had the instinct of a journalist. She knew a good story and getting it into the paper...You can safely say she was, for most of her working life, the leading female journalist in T&T. I think journalism lost an icon in the passing of Mrs Mills."

Former Trinidad Guardian editor-in-chief Carl Jacobs (source: Guardian)

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"Though, we have operated largely as media competitors I developed great respect for her skills as a journalist for she was always committed to a no-nonsense type approach to the job. 

"Long before it had become popular to argue for the advancement of women in senior positions she had earned that right by the quality of her work. It was therefore no surprise to me that she made an outstanding success of her position first as editor-in-chief and later as publisher at Newsday. 

"That paper owes a tremendous debt of appreciation for a tremendous contribution she has made to its success. Again I express my deepest sympathy to her family,” Gordon said yesterday in a telephone interview."

Ken Gordon former chairman of the Caribbean Communications Network—parent company of the Trinidad Express (source: Express)

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"I had the highest regard for Mrs Mills. She was what every journalist aspired to be. One could always something, however little or big it was, with every conversation held with her. She is almost irreplaceable. She will be truly missed. She was a true champion of journalism."

Newsday senior features reporter Joan Rampersad (source: Express)

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“She was the “Iron Lady” of journalism in TT, and she was gentle when she had to be gentle and had a very kind character...She was very aware of accuracy and had a sense of toughness yet she was gentle, very tolerant and maternal. She is going to be missed. 

Jones P. Madeira (source: Newsday)

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"(Mills) was the first woman to read and write her way to the top of a national newspaper in TT and the Caribbean, when she became Editor-in-Chief of the Trinidad Guardian in 1989, after joining the paper in 1956 as a junior feature writer; she remained in the top position until her retirement in 1993...

"Over her multi-decade career, Mrs Mills reported prolifically on national, regional and international events. 

“Since taking up the challenge at Newsday, she was able to guide the paper to its pinnacle, being the most-read paper for eight consecutive surveys.

“Journalists of the quality, integrity, longevity and selfless contribution to the profession of Therese Mills are to be admired."

Media Association of Trinidad & Tobago (MATT)