PADRAIC FALLON:PADRAIC FALLON, who has died aged 66, was a pioneering financial journalist credited with transforming the monthly magazine Euromoney into the hub of an international publishing company with a market value of over £1 billion.
He made a spectacular success of the transition from writing to running a business. Euromoney Institutional Investor today publishes 100 specialist magazines devoted to subjects such as finance, aviation, pharmaceuticals and law. They are essential reading for bankers, lawyers and financial analysts across the globe.
Born in Wexford in 1946, he was the youngest of six sons of the poet Padraic Fallon and his wife Dorothea (née Maher). Two of his brothers, Ivan and Brian, also became journalists, while another, Conor, made his name as a sculptor. Educated at St Peter’s College, Wexford, and Blackrock College, Dublin, he graduated in business from TCD.
He started his journalistic career as a sub-editor on the financial pages of the The Irish Times. Moving to London in 1969, he joined the city desk of Thomson regional newspapers. His next port of call was the Daily Mirror, where he remained for two years, joining the Daily Mail in 1972.
He briefly edited Middle East Money, a Daily Mail title based in Beirut, before being appointed editor of Euromoney, founded in 1969 by Daily Mail city editor Patrick Sergeant. Fallon shrewdly decided to focus on the emerging eurobond market, which attracted much related advertising, and Euromoney was on its way to reaching unimagined heights.
Sergeant later said of Fallon’s appointment: “Apart from starting the magazine in 1969, it was the best thing I ever did for Euromoney.”
He became managing editor in 1985, chief executive in 1989 and chairman in 1992. In 1997 he oversaw the acquisition of Institutional Investor, securing Euromoney’s dominance in its field.
A stickler for good writing, he believed financial journalism should be no different from any other form of journalism. He is remembered for having berated one journalist by pointing out that one could no more be “absolutely unique” than a “bit pregnant”.
He played a leading role in compiling the Euromoney style guide, which was required reading for all staff writers, especially the graduate trainees in whom he took a particular interest. He won the Wincott special award for outstanding journalism in 1981. Felix Salmon, who was mentored by Fallon, this week blogged: “Padraic was very old-fashioned in many ways: the cigars, the dinners at the Savoy, the chauffeur-driven car. But he was also a great believer in modernity and change, and in particular the ability of small groups of badly paid 20- somethings to out-work, out-report and generally beat much larger groups of much more remunerated veteran reporters.”
Euromoney editor Clive Horwood wrote: “He was the greatest teacher any young journalist could have. His method was clear: write simply, be fair, be tough.” Fallon would always stand by a writer and story, often in the face of threats from some of the world’s most powerful companies, as long as the piece was fair and accurate.
Euromoney continued to prosper during the past decade, with a series of takeovers propelling the company to a market capitalisation of more than £1 billion, profits of close to £100 million and a place in the FTSE 250.
He also was a main board director of Daily Mail and General Trust, Euromoney’s parent company, and a non-executive director of Allied Irish Banks plc from 1997 to 2008, when he resigned because of his concerns at the lending policies of the Irish banks.
He contributed generously to a variety of good causes.
He wrote three novels. A Hymn of the Dawn (2003) draws on his idyllic childhood in Wexford. Colm Tóibín wrote that it “works by placing a time that has gone against a sense of the timeless”.
The Circles of Archimedes (2010), inspired by the scientist’s life, was described in this newspaper as a “most admirable and stimulating work”. He completed his final book shortly before his death.
A regular diner at the Savoy Grill prior to Gordon Ramsay’s arrival, and the Garrick Club, he enjoyed mixing with people of all stations. Reading was another pleasure, and Patrick O’Brian was among his favourite authors.
Outdoor pursuits included shooting, fishing, tennis and skiing, and he was said to possess one of the keenest intelligences ever to be directed at the problem of persuading a fish to take a fly. He was devoted to his family.
His wife Gillian Hellyer, whom he married in 1972, their son Jolyon and daughters Nicola, Harriet and Annabel survive him.
Padraic Matthew Fallon: born September 21st, 1946; died October 14th, 2012