Dubai: Tributes have poured in for a popular UAE-based media professional following his sudden death over the weekend.
Cameron Plant, former group managing director at Shock Middle East (ME) which operates three radio channels - Heart 107.1, Dance 97.8 and Hala 97.6 - took his life in Australia, according to reports. His body was recovered from a hotel room in Melbourne on Saturday, April 11.
This is the third untimely death at Shock ME since last year. In January 2019, James Aramouni, presenter of Drive Time Show, died at the age of 28 when he was visiting his family in Lebanon while drive time host DJ Lucy Stone was found dead in the UK in September after being announced missing.
It’s believed that Plant flew back to his home country Australia in March and was forced into qurantine at a hotel room at South Wharf in Melbourne’s commercial businesss district. He was in his early fifties.
The circumstances surrounding his death are not clear but it is believed it was due to self harm. Victoria Police confirmed they were not treating the death as suspicious. "Police will prepare a report for a coroner after a man was found deceased in a hotel at South Wharf on April 11," Victoria Police said in a statement.
Friends and colleagues described Plant as one of the brightest star in the country’s entertainment firmament
“Cameron Plant was a delight to work with. He was extremely creative and a good leader. His death has left a vacuum that will be hard to fill,” said Digby Taylor, programme director at Shock ME. “He was highly focused, led by example and always got the best out of us. This is a huge, irreparable loss,” said a former colleague.
“Plant was a great human being. I am yet to come to grips with this tragedy,” said another colleague.
Plant was appointed the group managing diretor of Shock ME in in 2019 and left in December of the same year according to his LinkedIn Profile. He was also a sales director at Arabian Radio Network between 2011 and 2012. “Even after leaving ARN, he was held in high esteem for the impact he made during his time there,” said an ARN staff.
