Former owner of Vending International and an industry stalwart, Neil Hird, has died at the age of 86 following a long illness.
Neil Hird has died at the age of 86
Mr Hird was the second owner of Vending International after he acquired the magazine from Ray Pearl who founded the trade title in 1967.
After his time on VI, Mr Hird assisted the then Automatic Vending Association of Britain (AVAB), now the Automatic Vending Association (AVA), in the launch of AVEX –the trade show for vending, water and coffee industries across the UK and beyond.
Long-time friend and former associate Phil Reynolds said: “He was a gentleman of the old school who was very well liked in the industry. He was a stalwart in vending and will be sorely missed.”
Mr Hird, whose expertise was in publishing, continued to work in the field both within vending and on trade titles as varied as The World of Embroidery.
