Former Evening Standard deputy editor Peter Boyer has died after a long illness.
Peter Boyer headed the daily editorial production operation from the mid-Eighties to the end of the Nineties, working with four editors: John Leese, Paul Dacre, Stewart Steven and Max Hastings. Before joining the Evening Standard, he worked at the Evening News and was sports editor of The Sun.
Mr Dacre, editor-in-chief and chairman of Associated Newspapers, said: “Peter Boyer was the consummate newspaper production man. A tough but fair leader of men, he presided over the Standard’s backbench in the days when there were five editions with authority, flair, lightning decisiveness and an extraordinary equilibrium. The greater the pressure, the calmer he became. He was a giant of our trade.”
Peter Boyer was known to many members of the London Press Club and will most recently be remembered for attending the club’s “Long Lunch” events to commemorate the end of Fleet Street.
Press Club chair Doug Wills, who worked with Peter during his years at the Evening Standard, said: “Those of us who knew Peter will know he would have hated the cliche, but “It’s the end of an era”.
Peter’s sharp tones and rebukes could send a shiver down a whole subs table. But the Boyer grin followed by a quiet word of praise would make an experienced sub-editor feel his team had won the cup. A superb journalist, a great newspaper character.”
He leaves a widow, Delphine, daughters Claire and Eve and three grandchildren. He was aged 80.
