Andree White
Andree White, who died in December aged 96, owned and ran Gander and White Shipping from 1966-90.
Decorated for her work in the French Resistance, as a young widow of 45 with two children, she took over Gander and White the day after her husband’s unexpected death.
A woman working in the man’s world of freight forwarding, the company thrives today because of her legacy.
Rudolf Neumeister
Rudolf Neumeister, who was one of Germany’s longest-serving auctioneers, passed away in February at the age of 91.
Rudolf Neumeister.
He grew up in Munich, where his mother had a grocery shop, and after the war worked part-time for a Munich art dealer. He set up shop in 1948 and in 1958, he bought the Munich auction house Weinmüller.
His daughter Katrin Stoll is the sole owner of the firm that carries the Neumeister name.
Frank Herrmann
Frank Herrmann, writer, publisher and auctioneer, died at his home in Essex in April, a month short of his 90th birthday.
Frank Herrmann.
Seconded in Bond Street as the author of Sotheby’s: Portrait of an Auction House, in 1980 Hermann would later join the firm to reorganise its book department.
When Sotheby’s decided in 1983 to raise the threshold for consignments to £500, Hermann provided the financial and strategic brain behind a new enterprise, Bloomsbury Book Auctions. He retired in 2002.
Roy Davids
Roy Davids, who died in April, was another giant of the book trade. After a spell as a dealer, he joined Sotheby’s manuscript department in 1973, later becoming head of a reunited books and manuscripts department in 1981.
Roy Davids.
He oversaw a series of outstanding auctions, including the John Rylands library (1988), the botanical books assembled by Robert de Belder (1987) and the manuscripts for nine Mozart symphonies (1987).
In later years Davids became the head of Sotheby’s marketing department for five years, before leaving in 1994 to become a dealer and a published poet.
Jim Collingridge
Jim Collingridge, who passed away in June aged 86, was a former deputy chairman of Christie’s South Kensington.
Jim Collingridge.
‘Colly’ had left school aged 14 to begin a 56-year career in the auction business. He started as an office junior at Debenham, Storr & Sons in Covent Garden when a wartime shortage of manpower and a good head for numbers ensured swift promotion.
He was head of the jewellery and silver department in 1975 when the company, then called Debenham Coe and established in the Old Brompton Road, was sold and became Christie’s South Kensington.
Samuel Miller Freeman II
Samuel Freeman – known to all as Beau – was a fixture in the Philadelphia auction scene for just shy of six decades.
Samuel Miller Freeman II.
A native of the city, he joined the family firm of Samuel T Freeman & Co in 1958.
He took his final sale at Freeman’s as chairman, wearing his trademark bow tie, as recently as June 2017.
David Newell-Smith
David Newell-Smith, who died in June, ran the Tadema Gallery in Camden Passage with his wife Sonya.
David Newell-Smith.
Born in 1937 in Chislehurst, south London, he began life as a news photographer but in 1978 set up Tadema Gallery, showcasing 20th century decorative arts.
Tadema ultimately specialised in jewellery and became internationally renowned for its exquisite stock from the Arts & Crafts, Art Nouveau and Art Deco periods.
Elizabeth Bowman
Elizabeth Bowman, who died in November, established Bowman Antiques Fairs in 1973.
Elizabeth Bowman.
She launched her first event at Pudsey Civic Hall on a Wednesday (half-day closing for most antique shops) in 1973 and later ran fairs all over the north.
The flagship Bowman fairs at Stafford Bingley Hall will mark 40 years at the same venue and under family stewardship in 2018.
Some organisers who cut their teeth with Bowman Fairs include David and Ann Stroud; Reg Cooper who established Cooper Fairs; Robert Bailey of Bailey Fairs; Heather and Peter Burgoin of Arthur Swallow Fairs; and Alan Cartwright from Jaguar Fairs.
David Moss
David Moss, who passed away in January aged 71, was the writer of the Dealers’ Dossier in Antiques Trade Gazette for over two decades.
David Moss.
Beginning work as a reporter with ATG in 1983, across 20 years the ‘Dossier’ (later renamed Dealers’ Diary) became the first-read choice of many professionals in the art world.
David became a well-known face at all major UK and international art and antiques fairs.
Stephen Jarrett
Cotswolds dealer Stephen Jarrett, who died in March, was a specialist in English furniture, clocks and textiles.
Trading as Witney Antiques, he was a longstanding BADA member and among the founders of The Cotswolds Art & Antique Dealers’ Association.
