The Moonstone Group extends its deepest condolences to the family of Ainsley Moos, who passed away at the age of 45 on Tuesday.
Moos was a member of the executive team of financial services company African Rainbow Capital (ARC), where he was responsible for corporate and stakeholder relations.
ARC has a 50% stake in Moonstone, and Moos was a director on Moonstone’s board.
“Ainsley had a clear view of where he wanted to go. He had excellent leadership qualities and was very passionate about all the entities he was involved in in different capacities,” Moonstone’s chief executive, Hjalmar Bekker, said.
“He always made good contributions at board level and provided insight to many complex problems in a clear and understandable way. I will certainly miss him, as we were working on a few interesting projects to unlock future value for Moonstone,” Bekker said.
News24 quoted a family spokesperson as saying that Moos died suddenly on Tuesday evening of complications following an anaesthetic for a minor procedure to his mouth at a day clinic in Stellenbosch.
He is survived by his wife Taryn, his three-year-old son Lex, and his mother, brother and sisters.
Moos was also the chairperson of the council of Stellenbosch University (SU).
Professor Wim de Villiers, the rector and vice-chancellor of SU, said the university has lost “an extremely talented” council chairperson and “a valued and loyal friend”.
De Villiers said Moos’s death was “a huge shock” to the university community. He said it came at a time when SU has depended heavily on Moos’s management expertise and his proven experience as a communications specialist, and his skills as a manager of stakeholder relations in the corporate world.
“His support to me personally was inspirational. Matieland has indeed lost a great friend. His family and loved ones are in our thoughts at this sad time,” De Villiers said.
Dr Nicky Newton-King, the deputy chairperson of the SU council, said: “Ainsley was passionate about Stellenbosch University and the role the university, its staff and students should play both in the country and on the global stage, and he worked hard to share this vision.
“His humility and calm leadership stood the council in good stead as it dealt with a series of critical challenges in the past year. The university has been so lucky to have counted Ainsley amongst its leaders at this crucial time in its history.”
Moos served on the council from 2014 and was, among other things, chairperson of the council’s remuneration committee, and a member of the executive committee and of the human resources committee.
He was elected deputy chairperson in 2018 and became the chairperson on 3 December 2021.
Moos obtained a BA and a BPhil (Journalism), as well as an MBA, from SU. He also completed leadership programmes at the Gordon Institute of Business Science, the University of the Witwatersrand, and Harvard Business School.
He held several positions at Media24, including as a journalist at Beeld, editor of Landbouweekblad, editor-in-chief of Volksblad, and editor and publisher of Sake24.
News24 quoted its editor-in-chief, Adriaan Basson, as saying: “Ainsley’s loss is a devastating blow, not only to his dear family and friends but to South African society as a whole. I have no doubt that he touched the lives of thousands in his short but impactful life. To me, he was the embodiment of a true South African: critical and realistic but always with his eyes firmly set on a better future for all. My heart goes out to his closest and dearest.”
Moos spent seven years with Sanlam, where he was the head of group communication and later the operations manager in the office of the group CEO. He joined ARC in 2018.
