Former OUP children's publisher Ron Heapy dies

Oxford University Press has announced the death of former children's publisher Ron Heapy, at the age of 82.

The publisher described Heapy as "one of the most influential editors of British children’s books that you’ve never heard of", adding: "And because since the war UK publishing has become, and remains, perhaps the world’s leading maker and exporter of children’s books and stories, you can make a case for Ron quietly being one of the most influential editors in the world."

Many authors, colleagues, and countless children and young readers have benefited from his "editorial talent and inspiration", OUP said.

Heapy began working for OUP in 1959, becoming deputy manager of the Karachi office and manager in Hong Kong, before returning to the UK to work on the Oxford African Encyclopedia in London and in the educational department in Oxford. He took over the running of the Oxford children's book list in 1979, "taking the department by the scruff of its neck to build a commercially and critically successful list, which produced numerous prizewinners, and many books which remain bestsellers to this day."

Among his successes were Valerie Thomas and Korky Paul's picture book Winnie the Witch, which won the Children’s Book Award in 1988, as well as Brian Wildsmith’s A Christmas Story and Charles Keeping’s version of The Highwayman. Among novels for older children, he worked with authors including Geraldine McCaughrean, Tim Bowler, and Gillian Cross, and oversaw the publication of prize-winning novels, including three wins of the Carnegie Medal.

OUP said: "Children’s book agents regarded him as something of an unknown quantity, a maverick – standing apart from the close-knit London children’s publishing community – but also as a visionary editor with an eye for quality, and someone that might see the potential in an author that other publishers were too nervous to take on. Each of his Carnegie Medal winning novels was written by an author whom he had nurtured and supported for many years."

Heapy's "principles, generosity, fierce commitment to his authors and books, and his distinctive style" marked him out, the publisher said. "Ron was a magnificent if sideways phrasemaker, who delivered his pithily witty sayings in an inimitable, barking manner, always with consummate timing. His sense of humour could be sharp, even savage, but always with an underlying gentleness as well as an important truth behind it."

Heapy officially retired as publisher of OUP Children's Books in 2000, though for years afterwards he remained "a frequent presence in the OUP offices - generous, inspiring and mildly anarchic - dispensing wit and wisdom to the various children's editors."

In retirement, he also worked as a volunteer for ARCh (Assisted Reading for Children).

Heapy leaves wife Dorothy, two children, and five grandchildren.