Obituary: Alan Thomas

Alan Thomas, who died suddenly last month, worked for Reuters from university to retirement and in those 32 years earned the admiration and affection of everyone fortunate enough to be counted a colleague.

He was a lovely, modest man, whose integrity you sensed in an instant; whose humanity was palpable and whose gently-expressed but sharply-aimed humour would hush a bar full of friends anxious to tune in to his Welsh-toned wit.

He joined Reuters as a graduate journalist in 1965. After establishing his credentials on a trainee assignment in Singapore, Alan had a series of testing postings; first to Moscow (deciphering the Cold War politics of the Soviet Union), then to Tanzania (African border conflicts and coups) and later Hong Kong (then Reuters' listening post for a region stretching from Hanoi to Pyonyang and Beijing - or Peking as it was known in the 1970s).

His Cantonese secretary there had her own way of showing her loyalty to him. "I'm pleased to meet you but you're not as handsome as Alan," was the greeting for more than one of us.

Alan, his wife Mary and two sons lived in the most enviable address in Hong Kong - the aptly-named Peak House. The highest-placed, and one of the oldest buildings on the island, it was chosen by Reuters because it was the best location to set up the aerials and receivers then needed to monitor a largely secretive region's radio stations and news agencies. On mist-shrouded nights as you walked Peak House's draughty corridors you could hear the radio traffic coming in from Asia's communist capitals.

His versatility meant he moved on to other roles... Chief Representative... Staff Executive... and as News Editor, in Asia, London and the Middle East, and during those assignments he touched so many colleagues' working lives. In an era when a well-drafted "service message" - a request from Head Office for coverage, a tip-off on how the competition was faring, an admonition of some sort - was the lifeblood of editorial operations, Alan was a master. He was meticulous, delicately insistent but always aware of the difficulties facing the frontline journalist.

He got the best from the correspondent in the field because he was fair, set standards, and showed an appreciation that never bordered on the patronising. And he was fun to be with when you next met at the Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents' Club or some other journalists' watering hole.

He and Mary had more tragedy than any couple could expect. First their younger son, Luke, died while at university and then only a few years later, James, the older, also died. In their anguish, Alan and Mary found some extraordinary strength. While friends would rage at the injustice of two great parents suffering so much, they reminded them how lucky they had been to have their sons, even for such a short time.

An apparently healthy 65, Alan died without warning from a heart condition at his home in the Cornish seaside village of Polruan. We pray it will be some comfort for Mary that so many friends and colleagues share her grief. He was a lovely bloke.

Photo: Alan Thomas faces the camera from a seat behind the helmsman of a Fowey River water taxi during a May 2006 visit to Cornwall organised by Alan and Mary for fellow members and their partners of the Coriander Investment Club formed by retired Reuters staffers. ■