Douglas Hamilton

This message comes from a group of journalists and colleagues from Tirana, Albania: Llazar Semini,Maksim Kolli, Leon Cika, Arben Celi and Lulezim Lika, who share with Douglas Hamilton’s family and colleagues their great loss of such a special friend.

Douglas Hamilton: a great and humane guy with a wonderful personality; a simple man who wrote big and lived life to its fullest; a friendly soul with an inspirational aura! This is how people who knew him would describe Douglas, our Doug!

Being the journalist he was, Doug prepared news with so much professionalism, maturity and integrity always capturing and bringing the reader as close as one could get to a story seen through the eyes of another. People could live his news through his carefully chosen and colorful words, making for a true story told. But Doug was not only best at preparing the news, but also managing and leading teams of people to successes.

Such was the story of the Reuters bureau in Tirana, Albania. Doug came to an impoverished Albania; a country just out of the communist insanity looking to be part of the western world. Doug saw this and immediately helped establish the office and start preparing the next generation of professionals who joined the Reuters big family and lead the office to success. Only a guy like Doug would see through the grayness of reality which had captivated Albania at the time and believe that Reuters could be professionally represented in this tiny little Balkan corner, and we do thank him for giving us the possibility to be part of Reuters and experience our best years of professional life.

Time catches up with us all, sooner or later, but Doug left us too soon and we can do nothing but grieve and remember him! For all that he was, for all that he made us be, Doug will always be an inseparable and cherished memory; a cushion against the tides of time!

May God rest his soul in Peace!

With indescribable pain and unmatched gratitude. ■