(Patrick Leeman, pic courtesy of The Mercury)Graham Linscott, who writes for The Mercury as The Idler, pens this tribute to his long-term friend and colleague. (Article courtesy of The Mercury)
It was with great sadness that I learned of the death last week of my old friend and colleague, Patrick Leeman, who until his retirement from the Mercury had been faithfully reporting news events in KwaZulu-Natal for more than 40 years.
Patrick covered a range of subjects, political and labour developments included, but his special interest was music and the arts, which he not only critiqued but supported passionately in all kinds of ways.
He combined this with an intense involvement with the Catholic Church.
Patrick knew just about everybody of any prominence in KZN, and they all knew him. Apart from a spell in the London office of The Mercury in the 1960’s, he was based throughout his career in Durban.
He was possessed of a wealth of background knowledge in all kinds of areas.
In retirement, for a while he kept up much of his writing on a freelance basis. But his health went into serious decline about a year ago. He will be sadly missed. – Graham Linscott
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