Stephen Kaye, former circulation executive at News in Victoria, passed away on the weekend.
I first met Stephen many years ago, when he was Circulation Manager at The Mercury in Hobart. back then, dealing with circulation managers in News around the country, Stephen was one of the bright lights in my view. He was tough but fair, always open to discussion and respectful of the role newsagents played.
When he moved to Victoria, Stephen continued to serve News professionally while being fair to the newsagents on which his company relied.
It is a tough gig working for a large and domineering company like News with employees often having to enforce rules and requirements they as individuals found challenging. You can do this by being uncaring or reflecting some personal empathy. In my dealings with Stephen I found he did the latter.
I appreciated the note he sent on his retirement from News last year:
Hi Mark,
Well all good things come to an end. Back in October last year I was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer, a big surprise considering I’ve never been a heavy or regular smoker. Since then I’ve battled along with my chemo treatment and have been coping reasonably well, but not well enough to return to work. News Corp have been very supportive and done the right thing by me by offering redundancy which will help with our financial planning. My last day with News Corp will be June 30.
I just wanted to take this opportunity to contact a select number of newsagents and suppliers to say goodbye. They are people I have had a lengthy association with over many years and despite having different views over that time, I have both liked and respected.
I wish you well for the future and hope our paths cross at some stage.
Kind regards, Stephen