Stewart Steven

Stewart Gustav Steven (born Stefan Gustaf Cohen; 30 September 1935 – 19 January 2004) was a British newspaper editor and journalist who grew circulation but whose career was marked by three major errors.

Biography

Born in Hamburg to Jewish parents, Steven fled to England with his parents in 1941 as a refugee. He subsequently became a journalist with the Central Press, then the Western Daily Press, and from 1963 the Daily Express. At the Express, he was a political reporter, diplomatic correspondent and finally foreign editor, before becoming an assistant editor of the Daily Mail in 1972, and associate editor in 1974.

In 1972, the Daily Express reported a "world exclusive" that Martin Bormann, Hitler's deputy, was living in South America. After six days, the story was found to be a hoax. Steven left for the Daily Mail. In 1977, he took responsibility for the publication of a false story claiming that British Leyland had a fund to pay bribes. Steven retired later in the year, serving as the last chairman of Punch and on the board of the London Film Commission. He enjoyed cricket and rugby. He supported the arts, both personally and in his newspapers.

When he married Inka Sobieniewska, a half-Russian, half-Polish pop singer in 1965, he adopted her son and raised him as his own. Inka took up painting after retiring from music. At the time of his death, he was caring for her as she suffered from multiple sclerosis.

Books