Obituary: Patrick Crosse

I WAS one of the young men who had the good fortune to work under Patrick Crosse in Rome in the 1950s, writes David Kelly (further to the obituary by Frances Dennis, 22 June). I have never met anyone who commanded so much love and loyalty from those who worked with him. He had a unique gift for managing and motivating people: as soon as he came into the office everyone felt better and happier, and criticism if needed was often delivered by no more than a humorous twitch of the eyebrow - from Patrick, quite enough. In the beautiful Rome of those days, coming within his and Jenny's circle and enjoying their friendship was to discover what a wonderful place the world could be.

Rather than the huge electronic market-price service with which its name is now primarily associated, Reuters was then a general news service with its finger on the pulse of a world in which Britain still trailed some clouds of glory. Patrick made us proud to work for Reuters. He communicated a heroic view of Reuters' responsibilities to the world and of our responsibilities to Reuters. When the news required it, the demands he made on us were unlimited. At other times he was amazingly indulgent - he was delighted that we should enjoy Rome to the full as long as we kept a weather eye on the horizon and were at our posts when he needed us.

But he was also a shy man, and his extrovert enjoyment of life really depended on Jenny. Her death nearly 30 years ago was devastating for him.