Veronica Thomas:VERONICA THOMAS, who has died aged 82, wrote for two magazines, Gourmetand National Geographic, in the course of a career that also encompassed network television and public relations.
Born in Limerick city in 1929, she was one of two daughters of Lieut Col Victor Haddick and his wife Kathleen (née Conroy). Her father, formerly of the Prince of Wales’s Leinster Regiment, was part of Mallory’s and Irvine’s ill-fated Everest expedition of 1924; he also was a writer and film producer.
Growing up near the South Circular Road, she was educated at Laurel Hill secondary school. In May 1950 she travelled to New York on the Queen Mary, intending to become a journalist. Living in the YWCA she took odd jobs to make ends meet, and these included working the cash register at the Vim 'n' Vigour restaurant. She enjoyed a lively social life, and twice dated Marlon Brando before his film acting career took off.
In 1954 she was married to Gordon Thomas at St Anselm Church, Holborn. London was chosen for the wedding so both sets of parents, Irish and Welsh, could attend.
In the 1960s she began writing for National Geographic. Highlights include a cover story on the Aran Islands, and she wrote feature articles on the Isle of Man, Madeira and Boston. While covering the opening of the Hilton Jamaica she met Trevor Howard, who had just finished filming Mutiny on the Bounty.
Writing for the US food and wine magazine Gourmetin the 1970s led to assignments in the Algarve, Canada and Scotland.
She and her husband adopted their only child, Owen, in 1967. Soon afterwards the family moved to Manhattan’s Upper West Side, where Miles Davis was a next-door neighbour. She once reprimanded the trumpeter when he practised while her son tried to sleep.
In 1978 she retrained and joined the production team of ABC TV's Good Morning America, for which she covered the murder of John Lennon in December 1980.
Another career move followed in 1985 when she joined public relations company Porter Novelli. She managed some of the company’s biggest accounts before co-founding the Kovack-Thomas PR company, where she brought her working life to a close.
She and her husband retired to the French Riviera in 1993. Living in Antibes, they got to know Graham Greene and his partner Yvonne Cloetta.
Her son Owen said she put her husband’s needs above her own for nearly 50 years, and was a supportive mother who “showered” him with love and praise.
She died in New York. Predeceased by her husband Gordon in 2004, she is survived by Owen and his partner Katrine Bavnbek. Her grandson Oscar Nolan was born a few weeks after her death.
Veronica Thomas: born January 15th, 1929; died April 30th, 2011