FORMER Tribune journalist Nicki Kelly – hailed as a “giant in the field” and respected by both readers and Prime Ministers - has died at the age of 93.

She worked for The Tribune for many years before later becoming a columnist with The Punch until its closure.

Former Tribune editor John Marquis called her “one of the best journalists I ever worked with”, calling her “a giant in the field, a woman of great intelligence, insight and courage”.

He said: “She was a brilliantly incisive writer who held authority to account with columns that tore through deceit and hypocrisy like a scalpel. Like all fine journalists of her kind, she was feared by society’s shysters. She savaged errant politicians and tore apart corrupt lawyers and unscrupulous money men.”

He said it was one of his great professional regrets that the two had a falling out in 2002, and that she left The Tribune “after many years as its star journalist”.

He added: “We first worked together on The Tribune in the 1960s, when her appearance in the House of Assembly press seats drew gasps of apprehension from members. Politicians with something to hide learned to fear her. That baleful stare of hers made crooks’ blood run cold.

“Having worked on many of Britain’s finest regional titles, spent nine years in Fleet Street, and worked with scores of top writers, I have no hesitation in naming Nicki one of the true titans of our gilded trade.”

Mr Marquis said: “Nicki’s death denies The Bahamas one of its most strident and intelligent media voices, a wordsmith who was brave, bold and immovably strong.”

After leaving The Tribune, she wrote her “Between the Lines” column for the Punch, and was also the Bahamas correspondent for the Financial Times.

One of those politicians she sometimes clashed with also paid tribute to her yesterday. Former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham said he met her after his firing from the Cabinet of Sir Lynden Pindling in 1984.

He said she was a sympathetic listener and he was “impressed with her sharp writing skills, her commitment to journalistic integrity and independence and her determination to expose and oppose discrimination, bias and corruption in the then governing PLP”.

Mr Ingraham appointed her to the board of the Broadcasting Corporation of The Bahamas, but admitted she “did not always see eye to eye with some of her colleagues”. He said tensions caused the board to change, but she was appointed to form and develop the National Gallery of The Bahamas at Villa Doyle.

When being photographed for the Bahamian Project by Duke Wells, she reminisced about her involvement with the refurbishment of the Villa Doyle.

She told of how from the beginning she had been helping to personally scrub away the filth at the villa, which she said was “just awful”, but that they had a great time bringing the old building to life.

The Bahamian Project organisers noted she was adamant she would not smile for her portrait, saying: “Her look was her look and it worked.”

In a letter to veteran journalist Oswald Brown in 2021, she wrote: “I often tell people that the politicians of yesteryear, whatever their personal failings, were far more knowledgeable and prepared to challenge the status quo than today’s lot.”

The Bahamas Press Club 2014 described Mrs Kelly as a “teacher, mentor and friend to many media professionals”.

The club said: “As a long-time Tribune reporter, she was thorough in her research of the facts of a story.

“As a columnist with The Tribune and later The Punch, she was fearless in going after the truth, which kept the politicians of the day on their toes.”

Mrs Kelly encouraged journalists to be more aggressive in their reporting. At a symposium in 2002, she reprimanded others in her field, saying: “They do not keep themselves informed. They do not read and they do not know what is happening in the wider world and I think this is a serious problem.”

Mr Ingraham noted that during his second term in office, Mrs Kelly “became a harsh critic of my government and sometimes I thought, of me personally”. He said he sometimes commented on her columns in the House of Assembly – but he noted that she “was non-partisan in the true sense of the word, refusing to allow partisan politics to influence her points of view or her writing. When the PLP returned to office, so did her critique of some of their policies”.

In a statement last night, the FNM said her legacy as one of the country’s “most respected journalists” is relevant at a time when “the press faces coordinated attacks both here and around the globe”.

The party said: “Her stories consistently appeared above the fold in The Tribune, and her fearless reporting set the gold standard for generations of journalists to follow.”

Her daughter, Catherine, paying tribute to her mother, shared one of her favourite quotes. She said whenever she had doubts, her mother would say to her: “Catherine, if they are not willing to take your place to die, they don’t get to tell you how to live.”

Mrs Kelly died at her New Providence home on Saturday.