The former managing director of a host of newspaper titles, including the Watford Observer and Hendon & Finchley Times, who helped pioneer the newspaper industry towards a new technological future has died at the age of 74.
Tony Greenan led the management of the Observer from 1978 to 1988 when the paper was under the Westminster Press title.
Mr Greenan is recognised as the first boss in the industry to introduce a ‘direct keying’ system outside of Fleet Street. It meant that journalists no longer had to write into typewriters and made the newspaper production system a lot more efficient.
Though he was never a journalist, Mr Greenan, who was born in Ireland, was focused on making sure the people of Watford had the news it deserved and needed, especially at a time when some of the biggest printing operations in the country were based in the town.
Tony Greenan (right) pictured with the late Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, at the opening of the new Hendon & Finchley Times office. Mrs Thatcher was MP for Finchley.
In fact, it was Mr Greenan’s passion for the people of Watford to know what was going on that led to a huge court case which journalists to this day learn about in law.
In 1982, the Watford Observer received details that publisher Robert Maxwell was planning on cutting a number of jobs at Sun Printers. The newspaper wanted to publish that 180 jobs would be lost after it had been sent a report commissioned by the company.
Sun Printers took Westminster Press to court and the Court of Appeal lifted an injunction which had prevented the Observer from publishing the story based on grounds the report had already been widely circulated and therefore no confidence had been breached.
Mr Greenan led papers across the north west of London and Hertfordshire, including the Hendon & Finchley Times and St Albans Observer, before he was headhunted to be Chief Executive of the Shields Gazette in the North East of England.
John Greenan, 43, described his father as forward thinking man and believes the Observer owes a lot to it being here today.
He said: “I genuinely believe the Observer wouldn’t be here without my father. He managed to make the paper profitable. It didn’t result in job losses but he recognised the technology to take it forward. It meant reporters could go out and send copy through what was called an acoustic coupler. He was a modern man.
“He was a huge Watford FC fan. The Observer used to have a clock above the Rookery end at Vicarage Road. He had an agreement that if the stadium were to be redeveloped or moved, the clock went with. It’s now in the museum because the contract wasn’t honoured after he left.”
John Greenan recounts a tale of when his Father managed to snag a John Lennon advert when he was working at the Southend Advertiser.
“They were placing ads worldwide. In New York, Paris everywhere, for Happy Xmas (War is Over). My father called up Apple and managed to get through to Mr Lennon and got an ad in his local paper. That’s the kind of charming of guy he was.”
Tony Greenan, who lived in The Avenue, Watford, leaves his wife, Sandra, four children, Nicholas, Gavin, Shelley and John and six grandchildren, Tom, Daisy, William, Oliver, Xavier and Scarlett.
Son, John, added: “My father was a charismatic, charming man who will be greatly missed by his family. He was not a self-promoting type of guy but he was well known in the newspaper industry. He tended to be quietly effective.
“He was a guy looking into the future. He saw the advantages of technology and provided a way forward that didn’t cut jobs but did cut costs.”
Tony Greenan died on Saturday following a short illness.
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