Vincent Jennings:VINCENT JENNINGS, who has died aged 73, was for 18 years editor of the Sunday Press. He was the youngest editor of a national newspaper on his appointment at age 31 in 1968.
He later moved to the management of the Irish Press Group of newspapers where he held positions as general manager, managing director and chief executive at various times in his subsequent career. He was also chairman of Irish Press Plc from 1992 to 2005.
He was chief executive of Irish Press Newspapers when the three newspapers, the Irish Press,the Evening Pressand the Sunday Pressclosed down in May 1995.
Vincent Jennings was born in Dublin in 1937 to Patrick Wolfe Tone Jennings and his wife Maud (née Brett). He was the youngest of five children.
His mother died when he was four and his father married again several years later. He grew up in Clontarf and boarded at Presentation College Bray where he was head boy and captain of the senior cup team, playing on one occasion against Tony O’Reilly.
Vincent earned a BA in history and English, followed by an MA from UCD. His thesis was on fascism in Europe in the 1930s. He also acquired a HDip in education, but his vocation was journalism.
He joined the Evening Pressas a copyboy/trainee journalist in 1961. He became a subeditor and writer and later became acting editor of the Sunday Press, succeeding Francis Carty as editor in 1968.
The Troubles in Northern Ireland broke out that year and were to dominate Irish life and the media for decades. The Sunday Press, in company with its sister titles, had a strong tradition of providing balanced and accurate news reporting, with comment left to its proper place in its pages.
Vincent Jennings was strongly anti-violence and, despite considerable pressure at times to soften his stance, he held firm to that position.
Many outstanding journalists worked for him on the Sunday Pressduring his editorship and he admired excellent writing skills as well as good reporting.
Among those journalists were Seán O'Rourke of RTÉ; Geraldine Kennedy, editor of The Irish Times; Mary Holland; Liam Hayes, founder of the Gazette Group of Newspapers; Maol Mhuire Tynan, former political correspondent of the Sunday Business Post; Emmanuel Kehoe, TV columnist and executive with the same newspaper; Hugh Lambert, former editor of the Sunday Press, and Willie Collins, his hugely respected assistant editor.
One of the major challenges he and his colleagues faced was the decline in readership due to many factors, not least the rapidly changing demographics of Ireland, industrial relations difficulties in Burgh Quay, the lack of investment in the titles and increasingly intense competition in the marketplace.
The arrival of the brash, colourful tabloid, the Sunday World,and greater penetration from UK titles put further pressure on the Sunday Presscirculation.
As an editor, Jennings had a clear view of what he wanted his newspaper to represent and, while this did not always elicit agreement, prompting heated debate, there was no doubting where he stood. On a personal level he performed many acts of kindness to those in difficulty.
In December 1986, Jennings became general manager of the company, appointed by the chairman and editor-in-chief of the company, Dr Éamon de Valera. He later held positions as managing director and chief executive.
The following years were turbulent ones as he and de Valera battled to save the company that was facing increasing economic difficulties and industrial relations problems.
In 1989 the company entered a joint venture 50-50 partnership with Ralph Ingersoll II, a US publisher who promised to invest millions in and transform the fortunes of the company.
The partnership was a disaster, partially because of the fact that Ingersoll's US empire crumbled shortly afterwards. A relaunch of the Evening Pressfollowed but was a damaging failure and the two sides ended up in the High Court in one of the most bitter company disputes seen in decades.
The Irish Press Plc side won the High Court battle, being awarded control of the company and £6.5 million in damages, but the Supreme Court later found that the High Court had no authority under the Companies Act to award damages.
In the meantime, Irish Press Plc had sold 24.9 per cent of Irish Press Newspapers and Irish Press Publications, who owned and managed the titles, to Independent Newspapers Plc, resulting in a negative finding of abuse of position by Independent Newspapers by the Competition Authority.
The Supreme Court decision, combined with the Competition Authority ruling, on top of its mounting debts, were the hammer blows that saw the end of the company.
The Supreme Court decision came on the day that Jennings dismissed company executive Colm Rapple for writing an article in The Irish Timescritical of his management.
The journalists walked out in support and, despite efforts at reconciliation, the company closed down and went into liquidation. Irish Press Plc continues to trade.
Vincent Jennings and Éamon de Valera attempted to relaunch the titles, beginning with the Sunday Press, to no avail. Efforts to sell the titles did not succeed. Jennings resigned as director of Irish Press Plc in May 2008.
Away from business and journalism, Jennings was a keen gardener, painter, music lover, cook and bridge player.
He loved history, philosophy and was a Friend of the National Concert Hall and the Wexford Opera. He was a member of Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club, Carrickmines Tennis Club and Carrickmines Golf Club. He was chairman of the Catholic Communications Institute, responsible for Veritas Communications, for five years until 1992.
He is survived by his wife Mary (nee Lodge), daughter Melissa, son Ian and grandchildren Eoin, Oisín and Pearse.
Vincent Jennings: born March 2nd, 1937; died November 24th, 2010.