Obituary: Svetlana Kovalyova

An extraordinary flood of tributes has poured in from colleagues and sources in Italy and around the world, lauding both her outstanding professional skills and her gentle, dignified and self-effacing personality. She had worked as long as she possibly could and had never complained or sought sympathy even in the final stages of her struggle, when she still seemed more concerned about the welfare and problems of others.

Svetlana began working for Reuters in Moscow in the 1990s and had been in Milan since 2001, passionately leading coverage of the commodities beat in Italy and building an unrivalled file from scratch. From prosecco and pasta to jewels and gold, she enriched the file with a constant stream of lovely features as well as in-depth analyses and market-moving interviews. Despite being a top operator, she was no prima donna but rather a great team-player, always ready to lend a hand to fellow Reuters journalists.

“It was typical of Svetlana’s great character and determination that she should have fought her illness with such quiet dignity and strength for so long,” said EMEA regional editor Michael Stott.

Many of her colleagues said she had hidden the extent of the illness from them in her determination to carry on with her job, as always highly professionally and without fuss. In Moscow, she was known simply to her friends as Sveta. As one of her many friends remarked, her name comes from the Russian word for “light” and Sveta brought plenty of light into our world. She still shines on brightly for us in our memories.

Svetlana will be sorely missed by all her colleagues and friends. ■