Two years ago today, Terry Mansfield – who had scaled the heights of the Hearst Corporation in a 50-year career – became one of the first Brits to die of Covid. This is the obituary we published in March 2020 to mark the passing of a giant of the magazine industry in the UK.
It is with enormous sadness that we record the death of Terry Mansfield, one of the giants of the UK magazine industry, at the age of 81. He had contracted the Covid-19 virus and passed away yesterday (28 March). It is just a year since Hearst Corp celebrated Mansfield’s 50 years with the company, 20 years as its UK managing director.
His career began in a London advertising agency as a 16 year old office boy. After military service (spent on Christmas Island, in the Pacific, famous for its atomic tests) and a spell as a “redcoat” cheerleader at a typically British holiday camp, he joined Condé Nast in London, where he worked on a number of magazines before becoming advertisement manager of Queen.
In 1969, he joined Hearst UK (then known as The National Magazine Company, “NatMags”) as advertisement manager of Harper’s Bazaar. In 1975, he became publisher of the merged Harpers & Queen and, in 1980, was appointed deputy managing director. Two years later, he became managing director of NatMags.
It was all a long way from a childhood in the then poor East London suburb of Walthamstow (shared decades later by David Beckham) and an education at the local “technical college” to becoming the first Brit to be a Hearst Corporation board director. He once said: “I’ve done better working for an American company. They don’t care about where you come from, it’s never a big issue. What is the drama about where you come from? What’s exciting about life is where you’re going.”
The contrast with his longterm competitor, the gilded Nicholas Coleridge, managing director of Condé Nast, could not be greater. But in 2002, when Mansfield stepped down as managing director (to be succeeded by Duncan Edwards), Coleridge was effusive:
“Having worked for, with and against Terry for 20 years, I feel well qualified to comment. He gave me my first editorship (of Harpers & Queen) for which I am forever grateful, since he was taking a bit of a risk on me at the time. Since then, we have competed vigorously and publicly for 14 years, sometimes reduced to name-calling and dirty dealing. He’s an extraordinary figure, almost surreal – there will never be another Terry Mansfield. I admire his incredible energy and ridiculously youthful looks. His heart is certainly in the right place – he’s a loyal person and wants things to be for the best. I shall miss his daft stunts, such as working for a morning in a newsagent’s shop to discover which magazines readers buy, and dressing up in strange costumes (magician, Arab, Chinaman, etc) to give speeches.”
You can feel the contrast and so did Mansfield. But he was winning where it mattered. In his last 10 years as managing director, NatMags increased its revenue by 50% to £312m and doubled the operating profit.
Throughout his career, he was a consummate networker and salesman. He sold advertising in 38 countries including, he claimed, to the notorious former Ugandan leader General Idi Amin. As Duncan Edwards says: “He was a ball of energy and enthusiasm who never saw a challenge he didn’t want to tackle.”
Frank Bennack, the vice chairman and former, longtime CEO of Hearst Corporation, said: “Terry was an international publishing icon. His career spanned half a century and included magazine publishing activities in almost 40 countries. As the first non-American director on Hearst’s board, Terry brought a global perspective that few could match. His excitement about the business was infectious and eternal.”
He never really stopped working and, in the 18 years years since stepping down from executive duties to become a consultant at Hearst, he has volunteered tirelessly for UK charities and organisations including: Victim Support, MOBO Music Awards, the Peace Alliance, Historic Royal Palaces, Graduate Fashion Week, Arts Thread, the World Heart Beat Music Academy, and the Worshipful Company of Stationers & Newspaper Makers. He firmly believed there were three stages in life: learning, earning and returning.
Terry Mansfield was awarded the Commander of the British Empire (CBE) by Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace in 2001, and the Marcus Morris Award (named in honour of his predecessor at Hearst) by the UK Professional Publishers’ Association.
He could be prickly, didn’t want to talk about his impoverished background, and could be caught looking around just in case he missed someone or something while he was talking to you. But he was imaginative, creative, enthusiastic and warm-hearted. Generous with his time and advice and always pleased to see you. That is what his former colleagues, competitors and the rest of us will remember most about him.
Terry’s enthusiasm for magazines was lifelong and, throughout his time at NatMags, he never lost his appetite for the detail: cover lines, sales propositions, promotional opportunities, and events. He never tired of the business and turned up for everything. As he once said: “There is a line in the Billy Elliot movie, when he’s auditioning and is asked : “Why do you want to dance?” He turns around and says ‘I come alive, I live when I dance.’ I have exactly the same feeling about this business.”
He was a lovely man. A giant of UK magazines in the industry’s heyday.
Terence Gordon Mansfield CBE, 1938-2020. RIP.
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