Last night I attended the launch of the Deb Bailey Motor Neurone Disease Research Centre at Macquarie University, NSW. Deb is a former magazine editor, colleague and friend who died of the disease aged 48, a decade ago.
I was a guest of Deb’s husband, former editor-in-chief of The Australian, David Armstrong who now resides in Bangkok. The MND research facility is located in The Australian School of Advanced Medicine. It is Australia’s first research centre dedicated exclusively to this debilitating and currently incurable disease that affects the nervous system.
A host of familiar faces were there to show support for Deb Bailey and her family. David’s former News Limited colleagues Campbell Reid and Jerry Harris mixed with Deb’s closest friends, including former deputy editor of The Bulletin Lindsay Foyle, philanthropists and scientists. I felt proud to see her name in lights as the result of the efforts of the Deb Bailey Foundation, driven by her daughters Clare and Jane, and devoted friends.
I met Deb in 1994 when I was appointed managing editor of Cosmopolitan magazine. Deb was managing editor of the newly launched She magazine. We both reported to editor-in-chief of the ACP-Hearst titles Pat Ingram. Deb was a wonderful, bright and caring woman and as I was about 10 years her junior she took care of me. We often met for lunch to discuss our magazines and audiences. It was critical that we minimized the content crossover to ensure our magazines had distinct market opportunities. It was a wonderfully respectful friendship built on a shared circumstance and goal.
Prior to her appointment to the launch team of She magazine, Deb was an editor for The Australian Women’s Weekly. During the early part of the period covered by this Sunday’s Paper Giants: Magazine Wars in which Nene King takes over The Australian Women’s Weekly, Deb was deputy editor to Nene’s best friend Susan Duncan.
I haven’t seen the second part to this series yet, so I don’t know if Deb will feature in the AWW team in the dramatized series. If she doesn’t I will be comforted by the fact that with the MND Research Centre dedicated to her memory, she will never be forgotten.