With much sadness we report the passing of long-time UK tobacco, drinks and duty free executive Terry Clark after a protracted illness.
Terry was a hugely popular and respected figure through a multi-decade career in the duty free sector from the 1970s.
He held senior duty free roles with tobacco house Carreras Rothmans and for many years at William Grant & Sons, where he was affectionately known by many retailer clients – including Gebr. Heinemann – as ‘Mr Glenfiddich’.
Terry was the most cheerful and gentlemanly of characters, helpful to everyone he met (including this writer), courteous and a consummate but always relationship-driven professional.
Earlier in his life, he worked as a ship’s steward in the Merchant Navy, sailing the Atlantic and Indian Oceans on the City of Port Elizabeth.
Terry was also an ardent lifelong supporter of Fulham Football Club in London, having been born in the area.
His long-time colleague and friend Allan Bussell, another duty free veteran, paid warm tribute to Terry, noting how he had developed his career and his business approach “during a period when personal relationships could be more important than profit margins or return on investment”.
The Moodie Davitt Report joins with others in the industry in expressing our condolences to Terry’s wife Delia on the loss of this good, kind and most able man. ✈
*Readers can add their tributes to Terry via the DISQUS platform below.
To Terry and to all the fallen while scaling Mount Difficulty
I recall to this day walking into a Waitrose supermarket in West London after I received the news and vowing to drink a good wine that night, a defiant toast to what I was perhaps illogically convinced would be a successful fight against the illness.
