The British-American journalist, publisher, and author has died of heart failure in New York last night, his wife Tina Brown said. Sir Harold Evans was just 16 when he got his first journalism job at a local newspaper in Lancashire. In his early 30s, he was hired to edit the Daily Echo where he started to attract national attention: there was the revelation of Kim Philby as a traitor to British Intelligence, the legal battle against the drug thalidomide, and the publication of Richard Crossman’s diaries. From there his next achievement was becoming the editor of The Sunday Times. For 14 years he stayed there before meeting Tina Brown at Oxford and marrying in East Hampton, New York in 1981.
I lost the love of my life last night, my darling Harry. He was peaceful at home with his family. My soulmate for 39 years. Thank you for all the beautiful tributes to the most magical of men. @sirharryevans pic.twitter.com/uZk6v745ZP
— Tina Brown (@TinaBrownLM) September 24, 2020
After emigrating to the U.S. in 1984, he was the editorial director of U.S. News & World Report and was hired by Random House a few years later. He published William Styron’s Darkness Visible, Primary Colors which was published anonymously; both were best-sellers. He took on memoirs from Collin Powell and former President Barack Obama. More recently, in 2011 he became an editor-at-large for Reuters. Sir Harold Evans published a guidebook for writers Do I Make Myself Clear? in 2017.
He will be remembered through his worked and the people who loved him.