John Mellon was a colleague you could never forget. He had an effortless air of authority which made him the leader of any group. This helped him immensely as a highly effective executive, but his reputation for tough decision making was balanced by a warm appreciation of human issues. He was good company at off-duty functions, aided by his native Irish wit.

Leaving Ireland in the early 1960s, John worked at the Daily Telegraph and Pearl and Dean before joining Odhams Press in 1966, three years before it became part of IPC Magazines. He was an assistant and associate publisher on the young women's titles, becoming Publishing Director of the women's monthly magazines in 1980. Two years later he joined the Board and took over as Chief Executive in 1986.

He was the right man at the right time, taking the company forward with great success into the liberation of desk-top IT publishing and handling the problems as well as the opportunities this presented. He ruled the board firmly but fairly, and ensured the company achieved notable coups, such as the purchase of the TV Times and the launch of What's On TV during the deregulation of the TV listings market in the early 1990s.

After handing over the CEO role to Mike Matthew, John took on the IPC chairmanship and a wider role in Reed Elsevier, working hard on developments at Reed Business Information. Soon after the sale of IPC to Cinven in 1998, John retired from Reed Elsevier and returned to Ireland and his beloved Loughtown House. However his expertise was valued highly and he became a non-executive director of the publisher Future plc, a role he retained until 2009.

Our sympathy goes to Patricia who supported him so well, and to his sons Tom and Ben.