Allan Barker's impressive achievement

No doubt, Allan was one of the most effective, skilled and versatile editors at Reuters during his time. His very high standards of writing and editing were legendary. With his eagle eye he could be critical of submitted copy but also generous with guidance and advice. We worked closely together when Allan took charge of the Business News Unit that fed economic stories into the general news services, a precursor of the eventual merger of general news and economic news departments in 1980. His impressive achievement was such that Reuters North America asked to borrow him from London to set up a similar unit in New York. Barbara and I will miss Allan as a personal friend. ■