Vale Jim Hart
Jim Hart, a former company director and co-owner of Lonely Planet, editor at Rigby, and former vice-president of the Small Press Network, died on Monday 15 January.
Lonely Planet founder Tony Wheeler writes:
Jim joined Maureen and me at Lonely Planet in 1979–1980—so early days—and was with us, and Lonely Planet, through to the late 90s. Apart from everything else, he can claim the credit for dispatching Michelle de Kretser (before she settled down to winning Miles Franklin awards) to Paris to establish LP’s French office. Pre-LP, Jim was with Rigby’s in Adelaide and had his own small publishing operation, Acme Books. Post-LP, Jim was involved in a wonderful grab-bag of activities, philanthropic, publishing and artistic, and was chair of fortyfivedownstairs theatre and art gallery in Melbourne for a spell.
Michael Webster writes:
Jim died on Monday evening from pancreatic cancer. He was unwell for some time and a week ago decided he should be admitted to St Vincent’s Hospital, where he died peacefully.
Since retiring from publishing, Jim has been a very generous supporter of numerous charities through his Hart Line Fund in the Australian Communities Foundation. The fund distributed over $1 million over the years, much to publishing-related organisations, including the Indigenous Literacy Foundation, Melbourne Writers Festival and 100 Story Building.
Category: Obituaries
