HAMILTON, Bermuda, CMC -A funeral date is yet to be named for the burial of journalist Ivan Clifford, who served as the Bermuda correspondent for the Barbados-based Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC).
Clifford died late April and, according to an obituary published in Wednesday’s edition of the Royal Gazette newspaper, has been described as the “consummate newsman, whose editing was typically the last word over decades at the Mid-Ocean News” and who left an enduring mark in Bermuda as an example for journalists.
Clifford, 80, started in the newspaper business as a teenager, quickly finding himself a lifelong career that spanned 50 years in Bermuda.
A sports lover devoted to cricket, Clifford worked in retirement as a stringer, keeping a keen eye out for stories of Caribbean interest into his last days.
“He was our eyes and ears in Bermuda. He provided the Caribbean with an inside view of all aspects of life in Bermuda. While he loved sports, he also liked covering politics with details that showed his competence,” said CMC senior editor Peter Richards.
“I was very much surprised at his death because a few days earlier, we had been in communication, and he was speaking about his work for CMC,” Richards said, adding, “he will be sorely missed.”
CMC Team Leader, Lori Weatherhead, said Clifford was “a consistent, reliable, credible, and dependable contributor to our CANANews service for many years.
“He stuck with the service and the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) through its many challenges. He will be missed. May he rest in peace and rise in glory,” she added.
His partner of many decades, retired Royal Gazette reporter, Nancy Acton, said he was particularly active on the Forties cricket club team and served as the Commercial Cricket League secretary.
Editor of The Royal Gazette, Dexter Smith, said his passing “closes a chapter in the rich history of the generation of expatriate journalists who descended upon Bermuda from Britain and North America in the 1970s and 1980s”.
“Ivan’s long tenure at the Mid-Ocean News from the early 1970s until its closure in 2009 not only portrays a loyalty rarely seen in modern times but also exemplifies his value to the company, his many colleagues, and Bermuda, which he fell in love with very shortly after leaving his English village in Gloucestershire.
“I remain eternally grateful for him taking the time to train me in the art of page design in the mid-1980s when no others were prepared to do so. It was a two to three-week period that played no small part in my career path.”
Clifford worked in the media in several Caribbean countries, including the Jamaica Gleaner newspaper.
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