Pioneering Post business leader dies in Brisbane
Keith Jackson, a former general manager of the South China Morning Post's publications division, has died in Brisbane.
Keith Jackson, a former general manager of the 's publications division, has died in Brisbane.
Jackson came to Hong Kong in the early 1970s from the and joined the after a brief stint at .
Jackson's flair in an advertising role at had drawn the interest of the late Gerry Pilgrim, then the 's managing director, and the pair quickly became a formidable team as the expanded its interests beyond daily newspaper publishing.
First, they secured a deal to take over from , aiming to make the magazine - with a circulation base of about 700,000 - the flagship of their budding empire.
Jackson then embarked on a programme to set up , and . He was every CEO's entrepreneurial go-to man and Pilgrim embraced each plan he hatched.
The establishment of the 's bookshops followed, as did forays into the mainland, which had just begun to open itself to the outside world.
Jackson returned to Australia in the mid-1980s and with Olivia, his Thai wife, opened Oriental Bangkok, a trendy, upmarket Thai restaurant in Brisbane's business district. They later started a Thai takeaway outlet in a suburb closer to their home.
His penchant for tobacco exacerbated breathing difficulties and his love of the outdoors, especially walking along the beaches under an unrelenting Australian sun, left him fighting a never-ending battle with skin cancer.
He died on Saturday survived by Olivia and two children.
