Wayne McLeod, the editor of Puerto Vallarta’s English-language daily, Vallarta Today, died October 28 at the resort’s Medasist Hospital at the age of 58.
Born in Vancouver, British Colombia, McLeod graduated in film and television studies at the British Columbia Institute of Technology. He worked for almost a decade as a television presenter on live news and entertainment shows in Canada before moving to Europe. He returned for a brief stay in Los Angeles before buying a one-way ticket to Puerto Vallarta in 1990.
McLeod soon found work as a columnist at Vallarta Today, the sister paper to Spanish-language Vallarta Opina owned by businessman Luis Reyes Brambila. In 1992, after editor Lynne Bairstow stepped down, he took over the editor’s chair.
For 20 years, McLeod edited the newspaper, chronicling the myriad events in the expatriate community and providing information for the thousands of tourists visiting the area.
McLeod continued to work at the paper despite being diagnosed with lung cancer earlier this year.
A huge tennis enthusiast, McLeod is remembered by his friends and colleagues as a serene, humane person, always ready with a kind word and a smile.
He is survived by his partner of many years, Laura Lopez Labra of Puerto Vallarta, as well as his mother and two siblings.
A mass in memory of McLeod was held at the Templo de Guadalupe in downtown Vallarta a day after his death.