By Shailesh Solanki
TERRY MANSFIELD was a towering figure in the world of publishing, and played a leading role in establishing some of Britain’s most iconic media brands.
As managing director of Hearst UK (then known as NatMags) in the 1980s, he was instrumental in crafting some of the country’s foremost magazine brands such as Cosmopolitan, Esquire, Good Housekeeping and Harper’s Bazaar.
It was in those days in the mid-1980s that Terry and my father Ramniklal Solanki first met, and they formed a close personal friendship that would endure for the rest of their lives.
Such was their kinship that we have lost them both, icons of the media world in their own separate ways, in the space of a month.
As managing director of NatMags, Terry was keen to learn more about the ever-growing number of Asian retailers who were coming to dominate the independent retail sector, and my father provided that vehicle through the pages of Asian Trader magazine.
A bold visionary, Terry didn’t just pay lip service to the sector as was often the case with his contemporaries; he rolled up his sleeves and worked behind the counter at many a newsagents shop to better understand the numerous issues they faced. He often rose in the early hours to help open the shop and unpack the daily news parcels. His hard graft and respectful manner earned him the lifelong admiration of the community.
Some of the frequent complaints we received in those days was of the prejudice and discrimination that Asian retailers faced from wholesalers and suppliers. Terry was at the forefront of fighting that prejudice and was instrumental in ensuring the Asian community received due recognition for the manner in which they revitalised a once moribund sector.
Terry was passionate about nurturing talent and he assembled and developed a succession of brilliant editors and writers at Hearst. But he was also passionate about developing talent in Asian and black communities. He became a founding member of the GG2 Leadership Awards judging panel, and his wise counsel and insights ensured we selected outstanding winners over the two decades that we have hosted the awards. He never missed a single meeting or awards evening.
For my brother Kalpesh and I, he was a mentor who guided us through many difficult times. During our takeover of Eastern Eye newspaper in 2009, he was an incisive sounding board and always the wise sage whose advice we valued.
He continued mentoring us throughout our many years of friendship, but he also mentored our children as they took their first tentative steps into adulthood.
He often said the three stages of life were “learning, earning and returning”. He was very much in the returning phase of his life, selflessly helping all those who approached him.
His was a genuine friendship. Terry was a giant and a true gentlemen, and the publishing world has lost one of its greats.
