John Hale, publisher of Robert Hale for over 50 years, dies aged 92

John Hale, publisher of independent London-based publisher Robert Hale for over 50 years, has died aged 92.

Hale took over the company in his twenties in 1956 after the sudden death of his father, Robert Hale, who had founded the company in 1936. Thereafter he expanded the list, adding genre fiction alongside non-fiction and general fiction.

At its height, the company was publishing many hundreds of genre titles a year. Authors published on the fiction list include Jean Plaidy, John D MacDonald, James M Cain, James Hadley Chase, Robert Bloch and Harold Robbins. Hale was the first to publish Robert Goddard and C J Box in the UK.

Later he acquired J A Allen, the equestrian publisher, and NAG Press, which issues gemmological and horological titles mirroring the Hale list, which already included jewellery books. He was always interested in niche areas, maintaining – according to Gill Jackson, former m.d. at Robert Hale – that there was no subject he hadn’t touched and “if there’s a gap, that’s what I’m interested in".

Hale retired from active publishing in 2010 but remained “a benign presence as chairman” until the company was closed in 2015 and the list was transferred to The Crowood Press.

Jackson said: “I worked for John on and off for 45 years and during that time we never had a cross word. He was the ultimate gentleman: kind, patient but demanding of one’s best at all times. He was, to a large extent, unknowable, as he was extremely shy, a private man who preferred to keep the workplace purely professional. He didn’t like or invite small talk, had a wry sense of humour, loved music, good food (salad was ‘grass’ and not appreciated) and red wine. Holidays were anathema until he was approaching retirement.

“He relied to a very large extent on his own judgement, maintaining a policy that every letter received should be answered that day, submissions answered within a fortnight or three weeks at the most. Many authors believed their work had not been read or considered but it had. Everything was read initially by John who would pass the submissions he considered worth taking further for others’ opinions and rejecting, so very kindly, those for which he didn’t see a future. So there was no slush pile at Hale.”

Jackson continued that he provided a “crucial first foot in the door that has given so many publishing personnel their careers".

Lesley Gower, publisher at J A Allen, said: “I remember Mr Hale, never referred to by staff as John, as a particularly shrewd London publisher and respected businessman. His eclectic list included a plethora of fascinating authors and titles. He always kept a close eye on the balance sheet and still drove to his Clerkenwell office in his eighties. On a personal note, while I was managing his equestrian imprint, J A Allen, Mr Hale would often ask me if certain horse-related details were correct in some of the Westerns that he still, in his latter years, loved to read himself. This was something that amused us both.”

A former employee, Nikki Edwards, who now works for Little Tiger, said: "I spent my first five years in publishing working for Mr Hale (as he always was to me). He was always very proper, though never stuffy, formidably sharp yet generous with his wisdom. He was a true gentleman with real presence and I remember my time working for him with incredible fondness."