Vale Mark Bonello

Publishing consultant Mark Bonello has died after an illness.

Ernie Mason, friend and former managing director of Random House, writes:

‘I first met Mark with Terry Kinsella in the early days of Lifetime as Gordon Cheers was selling Australia Through Time. They supported it extremely well which asked the question of their credit worthiness. It was no problem then or since and they had the infrastructure to sell vast quantities of books into a market that went through some quiet times. They were able to take full print runs and no doubt there are many books that without their backing would not have seen the light of day. Even after I left the corporate world I was still able to get quite a bit of support from them.

‘Mark was an extraordinary guy. I remember at one Lifetime conference, he spent some time walking on his hands, and he even climbed and did a handstand on Mount Kilimanjaro. He did the same at the base camp on Mount Everest, and raised substantial money for the Make-a-Wish and McGrath Foundations. His other great love was fishing and I was always amazed at the size of the fish he was able to catch. He was struck down with a most debilitating disease which was borne so bravely. I last saw him in September last year when the outcome was so very certain but he was as cheerful as ever, and we had a couple of lunches and spoke of the “old days”.

‘He was certainly a one-off and taken far too soon.

‘But at least he is in no pain and may he rest in peace.’

Category: Obituaries