RIP journalist Jeremy Gordin, murdered by burglars in his Johannesburg home on 31 March '23.
A Parabat who earned his wings in 1976, he attended university in Jerusalem and played international rugby as a prop for Israel.
He went on to become editor of numerous newspapers including, famously, SA's edition of Playboy. A favourite anecdote concerned a young Charlize Theron walking into his office and asking to be the next centrefold. "Why do you think you qualify?" Gordin asked. She took her top off and stood there bra-less. "This is why," she said.
He also authored numerous books, including 'A Long Night's Damage' about Koevoet and Vlakplaas commander Eugene de Kock. He concluded that De Kock was not innocent but certainly a scapegoat. People who did the same things he did, as well as the generals and politicians who sanctioned everything, sold him out so that they could get clean away.
In a letter to his children not long ago, he bemoaned South Africa's deterioration, saying “There comes a time when things are clearly falling apart and a time when the general moronicism, greed and lack of care grow very annoying. It is almost as though: “It’s gettin’ dark, too dark see.”"
The Daily Sun paid tribute to their former editor, saying: "Jeremy was short and short tempered – and he was a fearless giant."
RIP
