Manfred Pagel - his first day at Reuters

Manfred‘s death triggers memories of a time when Reuters transformed from a somewhat “normal“ news agency into an enterprise which serves financial markets all over the world.

I joined Reuters as an editorial assistant in West Berlin in October 1959. I was encouraged to report and write from day one. My English was unfortunately very poor and I was very dependant on our dictionary in which dozens of pages were missing.

The bureau chief in Bonn, Gerald Long, told me that I had to apply for permission to buy a new dictionary to the general manager in London.

These were the days when we were poor, but as Long (later the agency’s general manager) taught us, proud of being an independent, non-profitmaking company.

Two years later, shortly before the Berlin wall was built in 1961, a young German applied for a job with Reuters in Bonn. The late David Sells had just taken over from Long and invited him for an interview. Manfred was asked to drop in during the course of the morning.

So he appeared at Reuters, then situated in an old villa opposite the Chancellor’s palace, at precisely 8 a.m. The boss was not there. A young man appeared a few minutes later, sat down at the desk and pored over endless teleprinter rolls, news that had piled up in the wireroom overnight.

Manfred watched, waited and wondered. He walked up and down the room, looked at his watch. Sells eventually appeared, looked slightly embarrassed for being late and asked Manfred to sit down and relax.

These were Manfred’s first moments in Reuters. He got the job. But his insistence on being punctual, precise and accurate prevailed throughout his career. I think we owe him quite a lot. ■