We are sad to announce that Vice President of Newspress USA, John Rettie, has died.

Many of you will know John. One of life’s ‘characters’ he was a key component of Newspress USA from the very beginning. He was also among the first subscribers to register for Newspress.co.uk when it first went online in the mid-1990s.

Regarded as a photographer par excellence, he used his considerable reputation and network to help get the USA version of Newspress off the ground. With the continued help of his son, Nick, Newspress USA goes from strength to strength.

John’s death is made all the more poignant for us in view of the fact that Nick moved from the family’s home in California to Washington D.C. in 2014 to work for Newspress USA Inc. And, 10 years on, Nick is settled in Virginia with a wife and daughter and a dog. So, for Newspress, the Retties really are part of the family.

You might assume then that John was an American. No, he was a proud Brit. Born in London in July 1949, his early years were in Kent, where he attended Beckenham & Penge Grammar School.

After school he studied Civil Engineering at the University of Leeds, but those skills would only really come into his own when he was talking about cars and what made them go. His real passion was photography. Indeed, taking a looking at his career profile, you read that he has been a freelance photographer for the past 54 years. Whether full-time, or a side hustle, John was never more at home than when he was behind a lens.

He started out photographing rock groups, car rallies and models for the university newspaper. He gained a reputation and was already capturing the great and the good in the rock industry during a ‘golden age’ between 1969 and 1971. As the university newspaper photographer, he was one of only two photographers to cover The Who ‘Live at Leeds’ concert, which became one of the most popular live albums in history. He was never shy in reminding us of that, and also his part in the glory days of Seventies rock and roll.

In 1969, John made his first visit to the U.S. where he worked in Newark for seven weeks before embarking on a one-month Greyhound bus trip around the States. He returned the following year to California and started photographing motor sport events as a professional, covering TransAm and CanAm races in California as well as the Baja 1000.

In 1971 John began his professional automotive career in the UK with Safer Motoring, the VW enthusiast magazine, while still imbibing his passion for photography. Following a two-year stint as assistant editor he became a freelance writer and photographer. He travelled the world extensively between 1973 and 1985 covering motorsport, car launches and numerous other aspects of the auto industry.

John also ran three small businesses during this period. In England, he formed JGR Plastics in order to make cowls for the rear deck lid (boot) of a VW Beetle. He ran this mail-order and wholesale business between 1973 and 1985. While traveling back and forth between California and the UK, he was often asked to find parts for British cars so he started Carzanpartz to import cars and parts into California – mainly for Mini Cooper and Lotus enthusiasts.

John helped found and was president of Deitrich, Ober and Rettie, Inc, a small, six-person public relations and advertising agency in California between 1976 and 1986 with several clients in the auto industry including BFGoodrich, Cosworth, British School of Motor Racing and Chevrolet. During that period, he also worked as technical editor on Hot VWs magazine (Costa Mesa, CA) between 1977 and 1979 and was editor of Import Auto Parts and Accessories magazine from 1981 until 1984.

In 1985 John started working for Ward’s Communications (Detroit, MI) as west coast bureau chief, then he joined J. D. Power and Associates as senior editor of three newsletters in 1988 and in 1990 he was promoted to Editorial Director.

John instigated and managed the launch of J. D. Power and Associates’ initial website and the JDPowerGuide to Automobiles CD-ROM, which was J. D. Power’s first ever consumer publication. He also helped launch PowerGram, a daily news service, and was a key figure in starting a joint venture in Britain with the BBC, which resulted in the launch of the annual customer satisfaction study in that country.

But the pull of the camera was too much. After nine years at J. D. Power, John returned to working as a freelance writer, photographer, consultant and analyst in October 1997.

Since 1995 he wrote a monthly column on digital photography for Rangefinder, a well-regarded magazine for professional photographers. In 2007 he started writing a column on web technologies for a new magazine After Capture which, as its name suggests, covers the needs of photographers and graphic artists after they’ve captured a picture.

John has contributed to many magazines and websites including Road & Track, Auto Express (UK) and New Car Test Drive and Auto Trader UK.

He was a member of the jury for the North American Car and Truck of the Year Award from its instigation until 2005. And he was one of only 13 U.S. members of the 135-strong international jury for the Car of the Century contest, held in 1999.

John was president of the Motor Press Guild, based in Los Angeles in 1992, 2004 and 2005. While president in 2005 he started the Automotive PR Survey sponsored by MPG.

Then in 2011, Newspress phoned him up to ask whether he would be interested in helping to launch Newspress USA.

For us at Newspress John’s death is a big shock. John was part of the furniture and as he approached his twilight years his involvement with Newspress may have scaled down, but his enthusiasm for it and for life never waned.

John lived life on his own terms and would regularly ‘disappear’ to take trips in his RV to… the middle of nowhere. He was attracted to the wilderness or places where music or cars were, be it the Burning Man Festival, The New York Motor Show, CES or the LA Auto Show.

Newspress Managing Director, Tim Barfoot, said: “John led a very full life. He was a force of nature. As engaging and entertaining as he was determined and dependable, he was never short of a story and didn’t mind reminding of his former glories be it photographing Mick Jagger in his pomp or capturing Keith Moon at full tilt.

“John was one of the kindest and gentlest people I have ever known. He was great to work with and fun to be around. Above all, he was a friend who will be deeply missed. This is a sad day for all at Newspress and we offer our sincere condolences to Nick and the rest of the Rettie family.”