Former Blick chief deacon Martin Speich dead
Martin Speich, the former editor-in-chief of *Blick*, died last Saturday in Affoltern am Albis, Zurich, at the age of 79, from complications of pneumonia. Speich served as editor-in-chief of *Blick* for nearly ten years during the tabloid’s early days.
Ringier spokesman Edi Estermann confirmed to the news agency a corresponding report by the media service Kleinreport on Tuesday. From 1964, the former agency journalist initially formed a three-man management team at the newspaper for three years together with Charles La Roche and Claus Wilhelm. He then became sole editor-in-chief and publishing director at the same time. According to a Ringier documentary, he built up Blick as an independent brand and took an "open-minded, rather left-liberal political line". Speich led the loss-making newspaper into the black for the first time. He whipped up circulation with effective marketing campaigns.
When the Ringier publishing house wanted to restrict the powers of the Blick boss, he was dismissed without notice "for insubordination". He then took legal action to obtain a severance payment of several years' salary. Together with publisher Carlo Frey, Speich then set up the European licensed edition of Penthouse, initially from Zurich and later from Munich. The magazine project was extremely successful. According to his ex-wife Suzanne Speich, Speich later worked mainly as a book author and wrote brochures, for example about the Red Cross or animal welfare, as the SDA writes further.
