Tim Pearce retires - again

It was second time around for Tim Pearce this week as he retired again from Thomson Reuters after 46 years in the company.

Pearce, a highly-respected and extremely popular colleague, first retired in 2012 on the eve of his 65th birthday but was back in the door quickly to join the Thomson Reuters Foundation as a sub-editor three days a week. Nearly four years later Pearce said the time had come again.

“But it never really feels like the last day,” said Pearce, who hopes to travel more and learn a new language in the years to come.

He started with Reuters in 1970 as a graduate trainee and was a manager in Brussels before rejoining editorial, serving in places that included Beijing, Copenhagen, Hong Kong and Lusaka as well as the London desk. Unflappable and cool under pressure, colleagues note how Pearce was rarely heard to swear - unusual among deskers. Over lunch he recalled the days of liquid lunches in the pubs around Fleet Street when correspondents could not be reached by mobile phone.

After drinks and a farewell lunch with colleagues from Reuters News and the Thomson Reuters Foundation, Pearce logged his final “thanks and regards”.

“ I joined the Foundation for a few weeks and it has turned into a three-year exploration of the world through a totally different prism,” he said. 

PHOTO: Tim Pearce, centre, with Thomson Reuters Foundation colleagues who wished him well on his second retirement. ■