Stop the presses: Newspaper editor dies after reading his own story
On his last day alive, Richard Tapper read the media coverage about himself, took a work call from his hospital bed and cursed his ongoing existence.
He got his wish. In the early afternoon of Saturday, April 13, Tapper, the long-time editor of Hanmer Springs newspaper The Pinkie, a former restaurateur, chef, war correspondent, ad man, deep sea fisherman, intrepid traveller and quizmaster, died. He was 76.
Tapper had only recently relinquished control of The Pinkie - a mainstay in the North Canterbury resort town since it was first published in 1930 on a single sheet of pink paper. He stepped down as editor in March due to ill health and the business only officially changed hands a few days before his death.
“I have enjoyed the 17 years of producing
The Pinkie,” his valedictory editorial read. “And I step away with some reluctance.”
Incoming editor and Tapper’s friend Reece Gardner last saw him the day before he died. Tapper had been terminally ill, and spent his last days in Christchurch Hospital. “I was with him for a while,” Gardner said. “[He said], ‘Reece, I just want to die. Can you just leave and pull the curtain’. He just really wanted to let go.”
Gardner called Tapper’s closest friends, Jeff Dalley and Mary Holloway, and told them to get down from Hanmer fast. In hospital, the four of them ate ice cream and spent a final afternoon together. “They pulled him out of the rut,” Gardner said. “These were things that had to happen.”
The next day, Tapper had one goal – to read the story in The Press about his Pinkie editorship and otherwise remarkable life.
Tapper grew up in Hanmer Springs but left New Zealand in the 1960s. He subsequently travelled to 108 countries, published numerous cookbooks, went into business with the poet Dylan Thomas’ son, tried to cover the Vietnam War and shot out the ceiling of the Foreign Correspondents’ Club in Phnom Penh instead, ran a restaurant in Mallorca and worked on a sportfishing boat on Lord Howe Island. Among other things.
“He asked everybody to get him a paper,” one of his fellow patients on the ward that day said. “The consultant actually loaned him his tablet. He found it online.”
A few hours after reading it, Tapper died. He’d been a difficult patient, his ward compatriot said. Wanting both to die but also be well enough to go home. That night, several of his friends, including Gardner, held a memorial dinner for Tapper with his favourite dessert – berries and ice cream – and shared stories.
Tapper’s own stories, Gardner noted, got better with the telling. “He was one of those black and white characters,” he said.
“He was a good friend … [and] he lived a blimmin’ interesting life.”
Gardner will now lead The Pinkie alone. “I feel good about it,” he said. He was particularly happy that Tapper will be an ongoing contributor. Before he died, Tapper had agreed to keep supplying the weekly quiz and recipes.
For now, Gardner plans to fill the space by republishing Tapper’s old ones. Publication of this week’s edition was delayed so it could be reworked as a memorial to Tapper. The Press story was also reproduced.
“That [story] was possibly all he was waiting for,” Tapper’s friend Liza Bryan said. “It was probably enough for him to say, ‘I’ve finally been recognised. I shall go on my way.’”
By this, Tapper’s departure might have been delayed. The Press visited him in mid-March and the story wasn’t published for several weeks. Each time this reporter messaged to say it had held again, he was understanding. Good-natured, even. Like an editor would be. “Over and out from ward 25,” his last text message read, followed by a timely emoji – a dodo.
Richard Tapper married several times – according to one friend his wives included “some rather notable dancers, opera singers and models” – but had no children. He is survived by his sister Bev Pool, and nephews Ian and Murray Pool and their children. All live in Hanmer Springs. A celebration of Tapper’s life will be held at the Hanmer Springs Golf Club on the afternoon of May 31.