Bernie Leser, founder of Vogue Australia and Australian Magazine Award Hall of Fame inductee, has died peacefully at his home at the age of 90.
Leser also held senior positions at Vogue Australia's international publisher, Conde Nast, as managing director of British Conde Nast and rising to president of Conde Nast International.
He was born in Germany and emigrated with his father to New Zealand, where he went to school and college and subsequently worked in fashion, textiles and footwear companies in that country, Canada and England.
Leser's son, David Leser, told AdNews that his father fled Nazi German at age 14 due to his Jewish heritage, however despite his traumatised beginnings he managed to reinvent himself in a “magnificent” way.
“He was not a Murdoch, he was not a Packer, he wasn't a Salzburger, he didn't seek these positions, he was invited to the positions because of his qualities, and his defining quality was kindness, dad was kind to his boot straps,” David said.
David said beyond that people loved working for his father because of his generous spirit.
“You know the business we work in, it's a really brutal, hard boiled world and I don't think you hear many people say these things about a media mogul, I don't think you hear many people talk about someone in the way they talk about dad,” he added.
Leser rapidly established a reputation for marketing, management and directing international licensing operations and among his business contacts in London was Reggie Williams, chairman and managing director of Conde Nast UK, the publisher of British Vogue magazine. Williams was so impressed with Leser that in 1958 he invited him to join Conde Nast and launch an Australian edition the following year.
In 2010, AdNews inducted Leser into the AMA Hall of Fame and speaking with AdNews at the time he said Vogue succeeded in this market because Australia was ready for the title.
“Australia was becoming a more sophisticated country. More Australians were travelling and being exposed to different lifestyles, quality of merchandise and services internationally. Australians were ready to absorb this. That was our judgement,” Leser said.
“Initially we experimented with an Australian supplement attached to British Vogue here [Australia] three times a year, and sales of that double edition went up significantly. We sold advertising into that supplement, we had an editorial person based in Australia, and it was a good exploratory start.
“The main competitor [in Australia] was a magazine called Flair, published by KG Murray and later bought out by ACP. It was quite a good magazine, but not up to Vogue's standard. So we were able to win the ascendancy over them quite easily:”
Leser is survived by Barbara, his wife of 63 years, a daughter, Deborah, sons, David and Daniel, and grand-daughters, Jordan and Hannah.
His funeral will be held at the Emanuel Synagogue, 7 Ocean Street Woollahra on Friday 16 October at 12.30pm.
See below the full feature published when Leser entered The AMA Hall of Fame in 2010:
Not many publishers get to launch iconic magazine brands in four continents. Nor do they get to run a century-old US publishing establishment like Conde Nast. Bernie Leser did, and as befits a magazine like Vogue, did it with consummate style and a relentless dedication to quality.
Bernard Leser was born in Germany and emigrated with his father to New Zealand, where he went to school and college and subsequently worked in fashion, textiles and footwear companies in New Zealand, Canada and England. He rapidly established a reputation for marketing, management and directing international licensing operations.
Among his business contacts in London was Reggie Williams, chairman & managing director of Conde Nast UK, publishers of British Vogue magazine. Williams was so impressed with Leser that in L958 he invited him to join Conde Nast and launch an Australian edition the following year. Leser jumped at the opportunity.
“Why did Vogue succeed in Australia? Because Australia was ready for it,” Leser says.
“Australia was becoming a more sophisticated country. More Australians were travelling and being exposed to different lifestyles, quality of merchandise and services internationally. Australians were ready to absorb this. That was our judgement.
“Initially we experimented with an Australian supplement attached to British Vogue here (Australia] three times a year, and sales of that double edition went up significantly. We sold advertising into that supplement, we had an editorial person based in Australia, and it was a good exploratory start.
“The main competitor (in Australia] was a magazine called Flair, published by KG Murray and later bought out by ACP.H was quite a good magazine, but not up to Vogue's standard,” Leser says, “So we were able to win the ascendancy over them quite easily:”
Vogue would go on to record a circulation in excess of 60,000, while its stablemate Vogue Living, launched in 1967, reached similar levels.
The key to the success of the publications was quality - not just of editorial, photography and production – but of people. And it all stemmed from the approach of the Newhouse family, owners of Conde Nast.
“Quality was absolutely vital,” Leser says. “We were much more interested in the quality of human relations and the quality of the product, than money. The money came after that. We made a good profit but our shareholders were never greedy.
“We could have made more money had we approached it more in a Murdoch fashion, but the Newhouse family was different in its priorities. They weren't interested in power, they appointed people to their jobs and let them get on with it. Occasionally we appointed the wrong person or promoted the wrong person, but we let honest people go in a very decent and generous way, with their pride intact.”
While Vogue Australia was very successful, its numbers were small by international standards. Conde Nast saw limited returns from this market, and in 1972 agreed to sell the Australian operation to Bernard Leser Publications, of which Leser owned 60% and his colleagues (Eve Hannan, Bob Somervaille and Ernest Hyde) 40%.
Conde Nast, however, watched with interest in the ensuing years and was so impressed with Leser's success that in 1976 he was invited to move to London as managing director of Conde Nast UK. He was the first non-Briton to assume this role. A year later he became deputy chairman with additional responsibility for the distribution company COMAG.
In 1978, Conde Nast Publications (CNP) decided to publish a German edition of Vogue. CNP chairman Simon Irving Newhouse Jnr invited Leser to launch it, which involved a year of research prior to publication. Leser became deputy chairman of Conde Nast Germany and, two years later, vice president of Conde Nast Europe with responsibilities in France and Italy, and vice president of Conde Nast USA while still based in London.
During that time under his direction, the UK company launched several new titles and bought World of Interiors and the 300-year-old Tatter magazine to add to the original titles of Vogue, House & Garden and Brides.
While in London he became aware that CNP was interested in buying back the Australian operation. Half of Bernard Leser Publications was sold back in 1984 and the other half in 1990 “for a very fair price”. He remained joint chairman of the Australian company until l997.
In 1987, he moved to CNP headquarters in New York and became the first non-American to be appointed president of Conde Nast USA. His seven-year tenure in the US saw the acquisition of Details, Architectural Digest and Bon Appétit, major involvement in the early phase of Vanity Fair, and the launch of Conde Nast Traveller and Allure. Internationally, he spearheaded the company's expansion into the Far East with the launch of GQ Japan.
Returning to Australia in 1994, he became chairman and managing director of Conde Nast Asia Pacific, continuing the company's expansion into Singapore and Hong Kong. and preparing for the launch of Vogue Japan. He retired from full-time work in 1997, but continued his involvement in publishing as director and chairman of Text Media between 1998 and 2002.
Nowadays he maintains an office in the Westfield headquarters in Sydney, close to his good friend Frank Lowy, and spends three days a week there. While no longer busy in the fields of art or medical research, he follows them with interest, having been heavily involved in earlier years with the National Gallery of Australia and the St Vincent's Centre for Immunology.
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