MANILA, Philippines -- Brig. Gen. Hans Menzi, publisher of the nation's largest newspaper and a former military aide of President Ferdinand Marcos, died Wednesday after a long illness. He was 73.
Menzi, an industrialist and president and chairman of the board of the Bulletin Publishing Corp., rose to control the nationally circulated Bulletin Today and several other daily and weekly publications.
The Bulletin Today announced Menzi had died after a long illness.
He was the owner of four plantations on the southern island of Mindanao, a paper mill and several other concerns, Menzi also was board member on some of the Philippines' largest corporations and civic organizations.
He was a guerrilla fighter during the Japanese occupation.
Marcos said Menzi's death 'has left an unfillable void, not only in the field of journalism, but in the bigger sphere of business and industry.'
Menzi became Marcos' military aide shortly after he was elected in 1965 and served until 1972 when at his own request he was reverted to inactive status. He held rank of brigadier general in the Philippine air force.
He entered the publishing business in 1957 with the takeover of the Manila Daily Bulletin.
'We of United Press International are saddened by the passing of Gen. Hans Menzi, a leader in Philippine industry, agriculture and journalism,' UPI President William J. Small, and International Vice President Mike Hughes said in a telegram send to the Bulletin Today.
'Always a gentleman of the first order and a genius in business, Gen. Menzi built his newspapers and magazines into one of the most significant and influential publishing groups in Asia,' the message said.
'The general once told us that his interest in journalism started on a high school newspaper. From that seed, he developed himself into an astute publisher and an articulate writer of editorials,' the telegram said.
'We mourn the death of a true friend.'
