From carpenter to editor

OBITUARY: Barry Samuel Leader, journalist, b: Whanganui, May 7, 1934, d: Auckland, October 28, 2017.

Former Palmerston North news reporter and Manawatu¯ rugby representative Barry Leader died at his Brown’s Bay home on October 28, aged 83.

Barry left school at 15 and served a carpenter’s apprenticeship.

In 1957, Barry married Manawatu¯ Evening Standard ‘‘lady editor’’ Glenda Thomas after meeting on a New Plymouth-to-Palmerston North train.

Not long after meeting, Barry told Glenda he would love to be a reporter, so she suggested he apply for a job. Barry knew Doug Davie, the editor of theManawatu Daily News, through rugby, so asked him for a job. Doug said he thought Barry was too old to learn to be a journalist (he was all of 23), but three days later phoned and offered him the full-time job of sports reporter. Barry quickly caught on and never looked back.

In 1960, Barry was offered a job with the Bay of Plenty Beacon in Whakatane.

In 1966, with their 5- and 7-year-old daughters, the couple worked their way to England by sending articles about New Zealand passengers to their home newspapers.

In London, Barry worked on two weekly newspapers before the family travelled Europe, living in a tent.

They lived in the Greek port city of Piraeus, where huge ships glided past the end of their street for about six months.

From Greece, the family went to Canberra, where Barry worked as a sub-editor for the Canberra Times. They returned briefly to Palmerston North where son Nicholas (Nick) was born in 1969, then back to Canberra for another year. When the family returned to Palmerston North again, Barry worked as a sub-editor for the Manawatu¯ Evening Standard.

In 1980 Barry, Glenda and Nick moved to Auckland where Barry worked as a night sub-editor at the New Zealand Herald. Barry’s last job was as reporter/editor/photographer for Farm Equipment News.

SUPPLIED Retired journalist Barry Leader working hard at his desk.