Davies, Derek Gwyn

▪ 2003

      British journalist (b. March 9, 1931, London, Eng.—d. Sept. 15, 2002, Antibes, France), revitalized the Far Eastern Economic Review, turning it from a single-sheet paper with a tiny readership into a prestigious magazine with a weekly circulation of 75,000. He joined the Review as a freelance journalist after moving to Hong Kong in 1962 and became its editor two years later. A bold and sometimes stubborn leader, Davies was noted for his journalistic integrity. He was fearless and tenacious in his coverage of regional governments, and as a result, the Review was often banned, pages were torn out, and reporters were fined or jailed. Davies had a particularly strained relationship with Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, who sued him for libel in a Singaporean court in 1989. Davies retired later that year after Dow Jones & Co. took control of the Review and began moving the periodical toward more conservative, traditional coverage.

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