Leading figures from the media and politics have paid tribute to Mark Colvin, the presenter of the flagship current affairs show PM on ABC Radio for 20 years, who has died in a Sydney hospital at the age of 65.
One of Australia’s most-respected journalists, Colvin was also a foreign correspondent and a reporter for Four Corners, where his feature on the Ethiopian famine was a runner-up for an International Emmy award, and worked as a reporter for Foreign Correspondent, The 7.30 Report, and Lateline. The extraordinary story of his kidney transplant was turned into a play and was performed at Sydney’s Belvoir St theatre earlier this year.
Michelle Guthrie, the managing director of the ABC, said: “For many Australians, Mark’s steady and measured voice as host of PM brought them the essential news of the day and kept them informed about events of national and international importance.
“We will miss him enormously, and extend our thoughts to his family and friends.”
Gaven Morris, ABC’s director of news, said: “Mark was one of Australia’s finest journalists. He leaves an unfillable void as a journalist, a colleague and a friend.
“He was an important part of the ABC community as a mentor and teacher to young reporters and as a voice of wisdom and experience to many older ones. Our reporters and producers felt strengthened by his presence in the newsroom and emboldened by the sound of his voice on our airwaves.”
The prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, the Labor leader, Bill Shorten, and the Greens leader, Richard Di Natale, paid tribute to a journalism admired across the political spectrum. Shorten called Colvin “a gentleman of journalism”.
Awful news. Vale Mark Colvin. A gentleman of journalism.
— Bill Shorten (@billshortenmp) May 11, 2017
Vale Mark Colvin. A fascinating life ended far too soon. You will be missed.
— Richard Di Natale (@RichardDiNatale) May 11, 2017
Mark Colvin's journalism was elegant and erudite. In a world of superficiality, he was always informed and honest. We've lost a good man.
— Malcolm Turnbull (@TurnbullMalcolm) May 11, 2017
Colvin survived a kidney transplant only to be diagnosed with skin cancer and then this year with inoperable lung cancer.
It was his wish that his last illness remain private and he spent his last weeks in Prince of Wales hospital with his sons, William and Nicolas.
“Today we lost our beloved Mark,” his family said in a statement.
“The family would like to thank the doctors and nurses at the Prince of Wales hospital, as well as the community, the ABC, his friends and colleagues, who have stood by him and supported his career and life. At this moment of grief, we request the family be left to mourn in private.”
At Colvin’s request, the family asked mourners to give donations to the hospital instead of flowers.
Before his transplant Colvin suffered osteoporosis and Wegener’s granulomatosis, which led to kidney failure. “Put it this way: it’s pretty unlikely I am going to live to a ripe old age,” he said in 2011.
In 2012 Colvin received a kidney transplant from a living donor, Mary-Ellen Field, a former business adviser to the model Elle Macpherson, whom he had interviewed about the British phone-hacking scandal.
Field offered to save Colvin’s life by donating a kidney after he interviewed her.
That sequence of events led to Colvin reaching a new level of fame. While he was writing the first draft of his bestselling memoir, he was approached by Eamon Flack, artistic director of the Belvoir Street theatre in Sydney, and the writer Tommy Murphy, who wanted to tell the extraordinary story as an unlikely piece of theatre.
In February the play Mark Colvin’s Kidney, featuring mentions of Macpherson, Murdoch and Twitter, opened and Colvin saw his life play out on the stage.
After Colvin’s death Field tweeted: “My heart is broken.”
@colvinius My heart is broken pic.twitter.com/gEq7SkeMMY
— Mary-Ellen Field (@maryellenfield) May 11, 2017
Lenore Taylor, the editor of Guardian Australia, said: “Mark Colvin’s intellect shone through in his interviewing. He was all the things a great journalist should be, informed, inquisitive, thoughtful and fair. He will be missed.”
Kate McClymont, investigative journalist at the Sydney Morning Herald, said Colvin was “one of the giants of our profession”.
Heartbreaking news. Mark Colvin, one of the giants of our profession, has died.His intellectual curiosity knew no bounds. Fly high @colvinus https://t.co/qNWlUyCGdW
— Kate McClymont (@Kate_McClymont) May 11, 2017
Mark Colvin was a giant of Australian journalism and broadcasting. @ABCaustralia radio listeners will miss him deeply #auspol
— PatriciaKarvelas (@PatsKarvelas) May 11, 2017
The death of Mark Colvin is a horrible, tearing loss for Australian journalism. He was an extraordinary person.
— Annabel Crabb (@annabelcrabb) May 11, 2017
Mark Colvin had a rare dignity; a deep love of his craft, an intellectual intensity. He matched decency with depth and will be so missed.
— Julia Baird (@bairdjulia) May 11, 2017
Colvin, born in London, was the son of a British spy, John Colvin, who worked for MI6 during the cold war. He didn’t discover his father’s story until late in life. He studied English at Oxford University and moved to Australia in 1975. He joined the ABC as a cadet and became one of the founding presenters of 2JJ, now Triple J.
He switched back to London during the 1980s as the ABC’s correspondent, and then again in the 1990s as TV current affairs correspondent, before returning to Australia in 1997 to present PM.
He is survived by his mother, Anne, sons Nicolas and William and their mother, Michele.
Colvin was hilarious, better at social media than most millennials and had incredible taste in music. Put this on and think of him. https://t.co/mMdnFNG01L
— Lucy Carter (@lucethoughts) May 11, 2017
After his death was announced, a final tweet was sent from his account:
It's all been bloody marvellous.
— Mark Colvin (@Colvinius) May 11, 2017
