PHILIPSBURG – Prime Minister William Marlin on Wednesday, October 5, expressed condolences to the family of veteran broadcast journalist Samuel Allen Jr., who passed away last week.
Prime Minister Marlin spoke of fond memories of Allen, known affectionately as “Venus.”
“I’ve known Venus, Samuel for many years. I have grown to know him as one of the persons in the media that you enjoy working with. He never put any pressure on you if he called you with what he considered breaking news, and you were not in a position to make a statement at that time or indicated that you were not, he would respect that,” Marlin said.
The Prime Minister lauded Allen for his professionalism and integrity as a journalist. “If you share something with him in confidence and told him hold on to it, release it on Monday, but this is what is developing, you will never, ever see him sneak up on you and inform in some way shape, form or fashion anything to get ahead of anybody else. He was one who really reported the news, and was not in the business of creating false rumors,” Marlin stated.
PM Marlin even spoke of his last encounter with Allen on Election Day, some five days before his passing. “My last discussion with him actually was on election day when he asked what time I would be voting and I indicated probably around 10 o’clock. He was one who was there seemingly ever since then and he said, ‘you know I wouldn’t leave before seeing you.’ He was the one who took the lead among the reporters that were there, and asked the questions always in his jovial and professional way,” Prime Minister Marlin reminisced.
“It is unfortunate that we lost a good man, a decent man, a very valuable asset to the media world on St. Maarten, to PJD2 in particular,” he concluded.
