Alan Thorpe: a personal tribute

The industry has lost a good friend with the passing of Alan Thorpe.

I first met Alan in the 1970s. Alan and my father were working on Shipping World & Shipbuilder magazine together. Looking back, we can see that this period was the magazine’s heyday.  Alan was deputy editor and able to draw on his time at sea working on tankers. My father (his sales counterpart) and Alan travelled all over the world for years: reporting on the industry, making friends, sharing many a good laugh. If you ever met Alan you’ll know exactly what I mean! Alan lit up the room with his sometimes salty humour!

Alan would go on to establish his own maritime publishing business which was soon recognised as a pre-eminent source of information, especially when it came to shiprepair news. His knowledge and contacts in this area second to none.  We would later collaborate on a series of very popular shiprepair networking events. There was probably no need for a database - Alan knew everyone and everyone knew Alan! 

Alan and I last met in September at the SMM exhibition in Germany. He was together with his wife Anne: Still laughing, still networking. Same old Alan.

Alan Thorpe was a good journalist, a good husband, a good father, a good friend. 

Like so many others I’m proud to have known him.