Roy Boyke, a foundation member of the 1967 Express management team, died at his Maracas/St Joseph home yesterday morning, after a long illness.
Boyke, who also distinguished himself in political communications, worked with a number of political parties throughout the Caribbean, including the Barbados Labour Party.
Boyke, a UK-trained photographer, and chief photographer at the Daily Mirror in Port of Spain, when it suddenly closed late in 1966, played a leading role in combining former Mirror employees with business and also labour interests to start the Express in June 1967.
In the fledgling Express, Boyke worked as advertising manager, before he launched a successful career of his own in advertising, publishing and communications. A highly respected photographer, and an attractive writer, Boyke pioneered the editing and production of glossy and well-informed annual Carnival magazines.
Heading his own agency, Atlas Advertising, he became a leading executive and board director of the now-defunct Kirpalani’s group.
Later in life, Boyke worked in political communications, including memorably, on behalf of the National Alliance for Reconstruction, which won office by a landslide in 1986.
As a much-in-demand political communicator and consultant, he worked for the Basdeo Panday UNC administration, and was thereafter recruited for electoral campaigns in, among other places, Barbados, St Lucia, Antigua and Bermuda.
Roy Boyke is survived by his wife, Frances Anne, a former BWIA flight attendant, and his daughter, Rionne, an attorney.
Funeral arrangements are to be announced. (Trinidad Express)
