Martha Dreyer Duperray (Obituary)

Martha Dreyer Duperray

Marzo de 2019 ha sido implacable con el periodismo puertorriqueño.  Se ha llevado consigo a varios importantes periodistas de Puerto Rico como al entrañable amigo y eterno camarógrafo de Telenoticias, Sandy Moreu, al magnífico editor deportivo de El Vocero Luis Colón, a mi querida amiga y reportera de economía Xavira Neggers y en estos días, supe de la partida de este plano terrenal de la eterna editora de negocios, Martha Dreyer Duperray.

Conocí a Martha en el 1994 en el Caribbean Business y me infundía miedo. Era fuerte, caminaba dando pasos duros, y era implacable en la edición porque inglés era su primer idioma. Casi no reía, pero cuando lo hacía, era a carcajadas sonoras. Yo, que era una nenita, la miraba desde lejos con algo de miedo y respeto, un tanto creado por lo que decían de ella. Sin embargo, cuando llegué a conocerla, supe que es que era exigente y buscaba calidad, como debe hacer un buen editor. Más que nada, su fachada tosca en realidad escondía a un ser bastante gracioso y mordaz, aunque no solía demostrarlo.

Ella nunca fue mi supervisora directa en Caribbean Business, y como dije, me daba miedo porque la comparaba con Ronald Flores, que es un pedazo de pan. Cariñoso, amable y gracioso siempre. Una vez ella llegó a trabajar en El Nuevo Día, la conocí mejor. Sabía de cómo había sido su trato con mi adorada amiga y pionera en el fotoperiodismo, la ‘fotodiva’ Laura Magruder, pero con el tiempo llegué a agradecer que Martha siempre estuvo dispuesta a darme guía o a ayudarme cuando le pedía algún dato que le faltara a una nota.

Para mí, Martha fue una de las precursoras indiscutibles en el periodismo contemporáneo, especialmente en el de economía y negocios. Era de carácter fuerte, muchas veces áspera, y por eso no era la favorita de muchos. Sin embargo, siempre le reconocí su inteligencia, y su increíble capacidad para sintetizar y proveer el contexto necesario que cualquier reportero requería en alguna nota.

Supe de su partida por un obituario que publicó otra gran periodista que fue compañera de labores en The San Juan Star, Lorraine Blasor y lo copio a continuación porque es la mejor semblanza que se pueda hacer de una de las grandes en el periodismo contemporáneo.]

Manny Casiano, Martha Dreyer y Don Luis A. Ferré

Obituario de Martha Dreyer Duperray por Lorraine Blasor:

Former San Juan Star Editor Martha Dreyer Duperray, who co-founded Puerto Rico's first English-language business weekly and flung her acerbic wit at both friend and foe, has died after a long illness. She was 77 years old.

The daughter of a newspaper publisher in St. Thomas, Dreyer was one of a few women in Puerto Rico who broke the glass ceiling to hold management positions in the island’s male-dominated media industry. She was in her late 20s when she became the first woman and youngest person to be named city editor of the San Juan Star, which was part of the Scripps Howard newspaper chain at the time.

Dreyer’s journalism experience spanned different media in Puerto Rico, including print, radio and television. She produced and appeared on the first weekly business radio show aired by Radio WOSO and she also produced and appeared in a local live English TV show during which she interviewed top political and business leaders.

In 1973 Dreyer teamed up with businessman Manuel Casiano to start a monthly newsletter that in a short time evolved into the island’s first English-language business newspaper, Caribbean Business. Although she left CB in 1980, she would return to it at other points in her life.

Together with her then-husband publicist and environmentalist Joel Magruder, Dreyer started Permanent Press Inc., a publishing company and financial public relations firm devoted to producing annual reports for leading private corporations and the government. Dreyer also wrote speeches and with Magruder targeted public relations projects and conducted public relations for tourism companies such as hotels, food and beverage firms. Meanwhile, she also started a financial newspaper called Moneda and produced a quarterly tourism magazine under the generic name of Sunspots.

Following the death of Magruder, Dreyer took on the food business when she married restaurateur Roger Duperray, with whom she co-owned an Italian restaurant in the Condado Plaza Hotel. The restaurant, called Capriccio, employed 45 people.

In 1995, Dreyer returned to CB as managing editor but left in 1998 to become editor of the business section at El Nuevo Dia. On and off during the next decade, Martha came back to CB, taking on different editorial positions. More recently, she tried to start a new publication, but the attempt did not succeed.

With the stout, compact body of a Gertrude Stein, Dreyer projected a tough persona that some people found hard to take although friends say she had another side too and praised her kindness.

As an editor, Dreyer pursued the news relentlessly and few could match her extensive list of contacts. There was hardly a person of importance in Puerto Rico that she could not get hold of. She was competitive and pushed hard for scoops from her reporters.

Dreyer had been battling cancer at the time of her death. She is survived by a son, Matthew Duperray; two daughters, Marlene Duperray and Cristina Duperray; and one granddaughter.

A memorial service will be held, from 3 to 6 pm, on March 24th at the Courtyard by Marriott resort in Isla Verde.

According to a friend, Dreyer loved to visit this hotel to watch the sunset.

“She was there almost every Sunday,” said her friend Lucy Soto.

“We’re all very sad. She was a tough cookie and no bullshitter. That’s what we loved about her.”