Manfred Pagel - Mischievous and not always politically correct

Two anecdotes from my contacts with Manfred over the years, which began in 1985 as a trainee in London where he got to know each of us and instilled respect for his rigour.

While winding up my trainee posting in Vienna in 1986, I asked for a job in the Paris bureau. A few weeks after being told that I got the Paris posting, I had to ring Manfred back, grovelling, to explain that I was getting married, my fiancé was now being sent from Paris to Geneva and did Reuters have any jobs going there? Shortly thereafter Manfred got in touch to say there was an opening for me in Geneva. “I don’t mean to be personal, but I hope you are not planning a family right away” he asked in a tone from a now bygone era.

Nearly 25 years later Manfred and Barbara came to a Reuter Society event in Geneva in 2009, organised by Bob Evans and Marcus Ferrar. He kindly inquired ahead of time whether the already frail Ronnie Farquhar would be able to attend, but Ronnie had pretty much lost his sight by then.

We chatted at the terrace luncheon. “I hope that you are still working hard to pay for my pension,” Manfred told me with a big grin. ■