Farewell to the tenacious “bulldog” of journalism

It was in my former role at the media group then known as Times Media Limited that Allan and I fully crossed paths, although as journalists, we had touched sides over the years. And very quickly, I learned that if there was one word to describe Allan, that word was “tenacious”.

I was moved to read a comment by another member of our journalistic era, and one of Allan’s former colleagues, Alec Hogg, now the founder and editor of BizNews. Alec noted that Allan’s Twitter handle was @Harrybulldog. While named after his favourite pet, it perfectly sums up the Allan we worked alongside: once his teeth were into a story or an issue that needed tackling, he simply wouldn’t let go. Tenacious indeed!

He’s been quite rightly described as one of the doyens of South African financial journalism, a tribute well earned. Few journalists could claim to equal Allan’s encyclopaedic knowledge of South Africa’s financial and business community.

When he was managing editor of BDFM (the company that jointly owned Business Day and the Financial Mail) we served together on that board. The owners at that stage were Times Media and Pearsons, the United Kingdom-based Financial Times group. Allan’s contribution on the board, whether in Johannesburg or London, was focused, unwavering, and positive. He cared passionately about the quality of journalism and the publications he managed, and was always prepared to rattle management cages when it came to defending that quality.

His involvement in journalism was lifelong. For many years, he worked on the weekly Financial Mail, but then in 1979, he co-founded a feisty competitor, Finance Week, which quickly earned a reputation as an independent and fearless scrutineer of the South African business scene, breaking many major financial stories. It was his tenacity after he left BDFM that led him not into retirement, but to become writer and editorial director of Today’s Trustee magazine, focusing on the critically important retirement industry. He worked on this and his other pet journalism projects right up to his death on Monday, 11 October 2021, after falling seriously ill the day before.

Condolences to his family, especially Liana, his wife of more than 39 years, and daughter Mia.

• Neil Jacobsohn is the former managing editor of Business Day, and the former deputy chief operating officer of Times Media Group.