Remembering Peter Mackler: Prashanth Parameswaran: A great story-teller

Monday, June 30, 2008

Prashanth Parameswaran: A great story-teller

I only met Peter twice – both times my dad had him and his wife Catherine over at our residence for dinner. But vivid thoughts of the man are still etched in the attic of my memory.

Peter had an extraordinary knack for bringing quotidian events and workaday people to life. Whenever I forage through books on Mao's China, I can't help but chuckle at the comical anecdote he related about how a Singapore Foreign Minister visited a sickly Mao in the early 1970s. Mao could barely utter a word, but his translator would transform his incoherent babbling into flowery pronouncements about the glorious People's Republic.

When my biodiversity-conscious friends harp on about bloody squirrel carcasses on the road, I bring up the most important lesson Peter says he learnt at driver's education class: when you see a squirrel, its better to run over it than to risk a screeching brake and a possible collision. Why? – its lifespan was 2 to 4 years! And the colorful stories about his voyages with Secretary Rice and Colin Powell added a crucial human dimension to these oft-quoted high ranking bureaucrats.

To me, Peter was a man who had a memorable story for every moment. To a potential journalist and college opinion columnist sickened by routine deadlines, old keyboards and countless hecklers, Peter redefined for me what being a good journalist meant. Yes, crisp intros and exemplary leadership did have something to do with it. But at the end of the day, the difference between an academic whose apartment smelt of rich, mahogany books and a journalist was the latter's enviable ability to bring things to life. It was a welcome relief and much-needed complement to a college hell-bent on preaching theories about the world that at times seemed far from realities on the ground.

I had always cherished those dinner conversations as brief escapes from the dim world of academia. So what I will miss is neither Peter's impeccable copy skills nor his mythologized leadership abilities. I will miss most his verve, flair and infectious sense of humor, ingredients that injected life into the moribund for an aspiring journalist.

-- Prashanth Parameswaran
Foreign Affairs (East Asia)/Peace&Conflict Studies (Southeast Asia)
University of Virginia

A NOTE FROM CATHERINE

Dear friends,

Camille, Lauren and I have been overwhelmed by messages of sympathy and testimonies from people all over the world on how Peter has touched their lives.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you. We know now that Peter succeeded at what mattered most to him, that was to touch people's lives, make a difference and help them achieve their very best as men and women.

My husband was an extraordinary man in public, as you know, but even more so in private. We shared 31 years that have been rich with love, challenges, and adventures beyond belief. We grew together into what he called "better people." Although he always thought we were never quite there yet, I know that he certainly was.

I have to continue by myself the path that he has laid out so clearly for us. Camille and Lauren, who carry so much of him inside them and take his purpose even further, will be my strength.

Thank you very much for all your support and friendship. I am deeply appreciative of all of you.

Catherine Antoine
catherine@catherineantoine.com

Peter Mackler, a pillar of AFP, dies at 58

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Peter Mackler, a veteran of Agence France-Presse who covered wars, elections and was the driving force behind transforming the agency's English language service into a global powerhouse, has died at 58.

Mackler died Friday after suffering a heart ailment at work in Washington, where he had served as AFP's chief editor for North America since 2006. His sudden death sent shockwaves throughout the agency's bureaus the world over.

"One of the agency's best journalists has died," said AFP chief executive Pierre Louette. "He was for most of us a source of inspiration, a model."

"I know he had a total passion for the agency, a desire for it to be great and remain in the top rank," Louette said. "We will miss him terribly."

Mackler, an American who spoke French fluently, joined AFP in the United States in September 1979 after starting his journalism career at a rival agency, UPI, in New York.

Over his nearly 30-year career at AFP, the indefatigable journalist played a key role in developing the multilingual agency's anglophone service from Paris to the Middle East and Hong Kong.

He was also a passionate and energetic journalist who relished the big stories.

As a reporter or editor, he wrote and oversaw stories that have defined recent history: from the Gulf War in 1991 to the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York and George W. Bush's presidency.

In the past year, he steered the Washington bureau's coverage of the marathon presidential nomination race with his usual vigor and focus in the face of intense competition from rival news agencies.

But between his long hours at the office, Mackler had also dedicated his time and energy to lending his vast experience to journalists working in developing countries.

In 2004, Peter Mackler set up Global Media Forum, an international media training programme, that grew out of work he had done for underprivileged children at Duke Ellington High School in Washington.

For the last year, he had worked with the AFP Foundation, a non-profit, and had been preparing a training project for journalists in Lebanon that had been requested by the United Nations.

"Peter Mackler was a man of many parts but to his colleagues he will be chiefly remembered for three outstanding qualities: his uncompromising commitment to the highest professional standards; his deep loyalty to his friends and colleagues; and his dedication to teaching young journalists," said AFP deputy managing editor Robert Holloway.

Born to a Jewish family in Brooklyn on August 22, 1949, Mackler graduated with a degree in psychology and began working as a psychologist for children in his neighborhood before joining UPI in 1973.

After starting at AFP in the United States in 1979, Mackler moved to the agency's editing desk in Hong Kong in 1982 and went on to become the bureau chief in Sydney and Singapore.

His work in Asia helped turn AFP's English dispatches into an essential source of news for newspapers and broadcast media across the region.

In 1991, he was dubbed "General Mackler" for his sure-handed organizational skills during the Gulf War as he helped AFP correspondents arrive in Kuwait City hours before the US Army.

After working in Brussels, he had his first stint as chief editor in Washington in 1994 before becoming the bureau's deputy regional director.

He was then named senior reporter based at AFP's headquarters in Paris to cover terrorism, a job that took him back to New York to cover the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and to Pakistan for the war that followed in Afghanistan.

He returned to Washington in 2004 to cover the State Department before being named chief editor for North America two years later.

He is survived by his wife of 31 years, Catherine, and his two daughters, Camille and Lauren.