Derek Davies, 71; Longtime Editor of Hong Kong Magazine
Derek Davies, 71, who ran the Far Eastern Economic Review for 25 years and turned the magazine into a leading source of English-language news and analysis about Asia, died Sunday of liver cancer in Antibes, in southern France.
Davies joined the Hong Kong-based Review in 1962, when it was printed on a single sheet of paper, and became editor two years later. When he retired in 1989, the Review had expanded into a magazine with a weekly circulation of 75,000.
As editor, Davies chose reporters from different backgrounds, including many academics, and gave them great freedom.
“There was a lot of independence for correspondents to interpret events in their own way,” said Michael Malik, a friend and former Review employee.
Before joining the Review, the British-born Davies studied at Cambridge University and worked at Reuters news agency and Britain’s Foreign Office.
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