Saarf mourns technical director Piet Smit
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SOUTH AFRICA-- Piet Smit, the former technical director of the South African Advertising Research Foundation (Saarf), has died.
Smit retired from the organisation in 2007 but will be well remembered for his work in developing and promoting Saarf's key research offerings – the All Media and Products Survey (Amps) and the Radio Audience Measurement Survey (Rams).
He was responsible for helping export Amps and Rams to numerous other countries across the African continent and was instrumental in the establishment of the Pan African Media Research Organisation.
Saarf CEO Paul Haupt paid tribute to Smit over the weekend following his death on Friday night.
Haupt said: “When I started at Saarf, Piet was my mentor and taught me most of what I know today about the field of media audience research… Through the years, thousands of other people in our industry also had the benefit of phoning Piet at Saarf and to find a kind-hearted teacher always prepared to help and to teach at the other end of the line.
“We will all miss his patient and thorough mentorship.”
Smit was recovering from hip replacement surgery when he died. Doctors suspect pulmonary embolism as the cause of death, Haupt said.
Author: Brian Tarran
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