Étienne Dupuch

Sir Alfred Étienne Jérôme Dupuch, OBE, KSG (16 February 1899 – 23 August 1991) was a Bahamian journalist and politician.

He was editor of The Nassau Tribune from 1919 to 1973 and served in the Bahamian House of Assembly for 24 years.

Dupuch was named as the 'longest serving newspaper editor' by the Guinness Book of World Records.

Early life

He was born Alfred Etienne Jerome Dupuch to Leon Etienne's father, Leon, founder of the Tribune newspaper, died five years later in 1914

Military service Dupuch enlisted in the West Indies Regiment, aged 17 and saw action in Egypt, Belgium, France and Italy.

Political life

Dupuch served as a Member of Parliament in the Bahamian House of Assembly from 1925 to 1942 and from 1949 to 1956, at a time when the country's tourist industry was experiencing dramatic growth.

During his time in office, he was opposed to the nascent Progressive Liberal Party believing that Bahamians should pursue a middle way to resolve the political differences that existed at the time between blacks and whites.

Newspaper career

Dupuch began his newspaper career as a boy by delivering the Tribune on roller-skates through Nassau's 'over the hill' ghetto areas. He took over the editorship after serving as a soldier in the British Army during the First World War. and whose descendant, Lisa Wells, founded the country's first news website, BahamasB2B.com, in 2000.

Editorials Dupuch was known for strong editorials on his political positions.

For years, Dupuch was at odds with Nassau's ruling white élite, the Bay Street Boys,

While Dupuch served as editor, the newspaper published a book in 1959 on the unsolved 1943 murder of Sir Harry Oakes.

Dupuch's powerful editorials were required reading among discerning Bahamians for many decades.

Legacy and retirement Many prominent Bahamian journalists learned their craft under his tutelage, including Sir Arthur Foulkes, former Governor-General of the Bahamas from 2012 to 2014.

In the late 1960s, when he retired from the Senate, Dupuch was described by a fellow Senator, Doris Johnson, as "a pesky pimple on the body politic of the Bahamas", a quote he insisted on using in the Tribune's headline the following day.

Dupuch published a 1967 book, The Tribune Story, about his struggle to keep his paper afloat in the face of enormous odds.

In 1972, aged 73, Dupuch handed control of the Tribune to his daughter Eileen, in 1949 and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1965.

He also received a papal knighthood from Pope Pius XII (Order of St Gregory the Great).

Death

Dupuch died on 23 August 1991, aged 92, after catching on fire in the garden of his home in Camperdown, Nassau, Bahamas while trying to destroy an ants' nest.