Matthew Fortune Long passed away aged 59 on Monday, 11th May, following a period of illness.
Born in Johannesburg, Matt was widely-known throughout an impressive career in the furniture and woodworking industry. He was also a good friend and professional acquaintance to many of us at Gearing Media Group, and was instrumental when we launched this magazine more than 20 years ago. His wise counsel and insight proved invaluable time and time again. Moreover, it was his friendship and good humour we all cherished.
Matt, with his wife Jeannie, arrived in the UK in 1985 looking for work after editing Signature magazine in his native South Africa. Having applied for over 100 jobs, he finally received two offers on the same day. One offer was with Furniture Manufacturer magazine and the other with a motor sport title which he would have preferred but it didn’t include a car! Matt worked on FM for about 18 months then joined another trade title: Wood & Equipment News.
In 1989, as editors often do, Matt opted for the world of PR when he and Jeannie started their own PR company, Kyalami Communications. His natural people skills, his prodigious product knowledge and innate writing talent saw Kyalami successfully serve a roster of top industry clients including Blum, Jaydee, Crown and other. Jeannie still works with Blum and Crown to this day.
Matt was a wonderfully good-natured man who always had a happy disposition, no matter what was going on. With consummate ease, Matt would enliven any social occasion with spirit and good humour – his after-hours story-telling was sublime, more often than not decked out in his old Springboks jersey.
The couple’s family was something Matt regularly talked about, with a lot of love and with great pride. He and Jeannie had five children: Sam, 29; Steph, 26; Natasha, 24; Gabby, 21; and Zac, 16.
Matt will be sorely missed and remembered very fondly by all those who were lucky enough to have known him.
