Ron Thorpe worked for Hallmark Australia for forty years. For much of that time he was the face and personality of Hallmark Australia during years when the company understood the importance of this.
Ron understood newsagents, he understood small business, he understood local. He helped plenty. He also helped the Hallmark, back then, understand the value of our channel to the company.
Ron was a terrific networker, and an engaging storyteller. We was an epic travel planner, hosting plenty of retail study tours to the US through Hallmark. These are trips on which long lasting friendships were made and valuable business insights were gained.
His departure from Hallmark left a big hole that the company has struggled to fill. I am grateful for his time working with newsXpress, contributing in so many ways to the development of the group. He serves our member newsagents well and was a wonderful host of conferences.
While in recent years Ron has not been as involved with newsagents as he once was, his advice and support was not lost to those grateful to have been influenced by him.
Ron passed away last week.
This photo is from October 2009, when Ron was MC of the newsXpress national conference at the Hyatt in Melbourne. He was fun, and inspiring.
Our Aussie newsagency channel could use more Ron Thorpes: people in big business suppliers who understand and support local small business retailers and who bring two sides together.
Go well Ron.