Leading veteran of newspaper publishing dies
SIR Ray Tindle, the veteran newspaper publisher and entrepreneur, has died at the age of 95, it has been announced.
Sir Ray was the chairman of Tindle Newspapers, which owns the Tavistock Times among other titles. He stepped down at the age of 90 but remained as company president, with his son, Owen, taking over from him as chairman of the firm.
An announcement on the company’s website described him as a “newspaper man through and through” and hailed his “life-long commitment to, and passion for, the newspaper industry”.
Sir Ray held major industry roles, including president of the Newspaper Society, fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, fellow of the Chartered Institute of Journalists and member of the Guild of Editors.
In a statement, Tindle Newspapers said: “Sir Ray was a man of immense self-belief and iron determination as characterised by his coat of arms, carried by all his newspapers, with the motto Noli Cedere, which translates as Never Surrender.
“It was an attitude which successfully carried his empire though six recessions and led Sir Ray to go from being a ‘general dogsbody’ on the Croydon Times in the post-war years to building up a company previously in The Sunday Times Rich List.
“Sir Ray attributed a great deal of the company’s success to the fact it had always remained debtfree. It was his proud boast that every title he had purchased or created had been entirely selffinanced. This meant that when economic times turned harsh, the company did not have to concern itself with paying dividends to shareholders or be at the mercy of the banks.”
The Tindle Newspapers statement added: “It was always the Tindle philosophy that his titles should be ‘ultra-local’ and he would often impress on his staff that what he wanted to see in his papers were local names, places and faces. He firmly believed local newspapers could provide the detailed community content that larger papers and online media could not.”
Born in 1926 to John Robert and Maud Tindle, Sir Ray was evacuated from London during the Second World War and educated at Torquay Boys’ Grammar School.
Upon leaving school, he enlisted in the 1st Battalion Devonshire Regiment, an infantry regiment in the British Army.
He began his career in publishing by running a newspaper on the troop ship taking him to the Far East, where he served between 1944 and 1947.
Back in the UK, Sir Ray acquired his first newspaper title, the Tooting and Balham Gazette, with his £300 demob payment.
He would go on to launch and acquire local newspapers and radio stations covering Wales, Surrey, Somerset, Devon and Cornwall, Ireland, the Channel Isles, the Isle of Man and more.
He is survived by his wife, Lady Tindle, his son, Owen, and granddaughter, Maisy.
Sir Ray was elected president of the Newspaper Society in 1971 and was its honorary treasurer for 14 years, celebrating half a century of involvement with the body in 2002, as well as being a past president of the Wessex Newspaper Association, the Greater London Newspaper Association and the Young Newspaperman’s Association.
The publisher became Master of the Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers in 1985 after some 20 years of service on several committees and of the court, and was the 1990-91 chairman of the Appeal for the Newspaper Press Fund. Sir Ray was also involved with community bodies and philanthropic activities. He was knighted in 1994.