Tributes have been pouring in all morning today (October 23) in memory of Financial Adviser's founder, Colin Chapman, who died after struggles with health, aged 87.
The renowned journalist, broadcaster and author, who after retirement from the FT Group in 2001 had been living in Australia, died at the weekend.
Chapman was the founder of Financial Adviser - the print title that became FT Adviser - back in 1987. He began work in February 1987, on the first edition of Financial Adviser, which came out in April.
With just eight weeks to go before financial advisers were set to receive their first copy of the newspaper, there were no offices, hardly any staff, and no working telephones.
Chapman used his contacts and his charisma to pull out the big guns - including former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher - to get the phones working, so his journalists could do "less puffy press-released stuff".
That first-ever front page is hanging on the wall of our offices - a reminder of the bold new world of financial advice that sprouted up after the loosening up of financial regulation in 1986.
The front page, overlooking rows of awards for FT Adviser and Financial Adviser before it, is a fitting tribute to the drive and determination of a man who has inspired so many journalists across UK media.
On his LinkedIn, Chapman had described his role in launching Financial Adviser: "I was invited by the Financial Times Group to launch two weekly investment publications in an already crowded field.
"This was aimed at financial intermediaries who advised on life assurance, unit trusts, personal pension schemes, and, at the higher end, investment trusts and funds.
"In the roles of both chief editor and managing director, I established new premises, hired staff, and oversaw the design and edited the papers. Within three years, Financial Adviser was firmly established as the market leaders."
On the occasion of our 30th anniversary in 2017, former editor Emma-Ann Hughes recalled how Mr Chapman had to lobby Number 10 to get the ball rolling.
He recounted: "The first thing was to find offices. I had one member of staff and I sent her off round the City looking for notice boards advertising offices to let.
"We found our first offices in Smithfield. The best thing was being able to get cheap cuts of meat.
"Then we called BT and told them we needed telephones for 30 peoples and four lines. They said it would take 15 weeks.
"I hand-delivered a letter to (then prime minister) Margaret Thatcher at Downing Street. I complained that the government may want to encourage private enterprise and new business, but that we were being held back by the newly privatised BT.
"Sir Bernard Ingham, who was her PR man at the time, called the next morning to tell me the phones would be in the following day."
