BEAL, Anthony (Ridley) 1925-2003

OBITUARY NOTICE—

See index for CA sketch: Born February 28, 1925, in Edgware, Middlesex, England; died October 29, 2003. Editor, publisher, and author. Beal was a former head of Heinemann Educational Books in London, where he helped make the publisher a leader in educational and literary books. Attending Cambridge University, his education was interrupted by World War II, during which he served as a sub-lieutenant in the Royal Navy and saw action in India. Leaving the service in 1946, he returned to university, completing a B.A. in 1947 and an M.A. in 1950. He lectured in English at Eastbourne Training College in 1949 before joining the staff at Heinemann Ltd. as an editor. Here he rose to director of Heinemann Educational Books in 1962, managing director in 1973, and chair in 1979. Before retiring in 1985, Beal accomplished a great deal at his publishing house, including helping to expand the company to an international presence with offices in Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, and Australia. He also launched successful book series, such as the "African Writers" series, which dared to publish the works of Nelson Mandela in South Africa before the end of apartheid, and the "New Windmill" series, which brought modern literature to British students who had become tired by the usual nineteenth-century mandatory reading lists. During his career, Beal also served as director of the Heinemann Group of Publishers from 1973 to 1985, and chair of Heinemann Publishers (New Zealand) from 1980 to 1985 and the Australia office from 1981 to 1985. A council member of the Publishers' Association, he chaired Ginn & Co. from 1979 to 1984 and the Educational Publishers' Council from 1980 to 1983. A scholar of English literature himself, Beal was especially interested in such writers as D. H. Lawrence, Thomas Hardy, James Joyce, and William Shakespeare. He was the editor of Lawrence's Selected Literary Criticism (1956) and Sons and Lovers (1963), and the author of the biography D. H. Lawrence (1961).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Guardian (London, England), November 6, 2003, p. 29.

Times (London, England), November 10, 2003.