Obituary: Clive Labovitch

I MET Clive Labovitch when we were both in our first year at Oxford, and he had just bought, and was Editor of, Cherwell, writes Bill Kirkman (further to the obituary by Robert Heller, 15 April). I joined him as one of a keen band of undergraduate journalists operating from a cellar in Broad Street (described in a national gossip column as 'an eloquent potting shed').

Later, I met him again when he was the leading publisher of careers directories - and, as Robert Heller points out, the innovator in this field. We remained in friendly contact for the next 30 years. Last year, he contributed a chapter to Graduate Recruitment: a 25-year retrospective. It was typical of him: informed, reflective, witty. The title of the chapter - a resume of the history of careers publishing that describes the enormous growth in it since his Directory of Opportunites for Graduates (DOG) appeared in 1956 - perfectly reflects his wry self-deprecation. It is 'The Dog that Died'.

Quiet, never bombastic, never the obvious publishing tycoon, he was an original thinker, always full of excellent ideas, genuinely committed to his projects, and showing a sensitivity and warmth in personal contact that made him quite simply a good person to know.