fieldus

Cycling along Spaniards Road, daydreaming amid the traffic when I spot a notebook, its pages indecently splayed.
I don’t stop immediately, but curiousity gets the better of me. I’m reading James Lasdun’s mystery THE HORNED MAN… as if I need an excuse.

The contents don’t intrigue; they’re just everyday jottings of a busy marketeer. Still, the trail leads to an interesting family, doing big things in property. The notebook belongs to Lisa Ronson, daughter of tycoon Gerald Ronson, one of the UK’s leading property developers and one of the Guinness Four, briefly jailed for his part in allegedly dodgy dealings relating to Guiness’s takeover of Distillers.

Ronson bounced back after his legal and financial travails, and he is currently building the Heron Tower in Moorgate (see below), one of the new breed of ’signature buildings’ so beloved by former Mayor, Ken Livingstone.

Click on the images below for more information.

A courier from CDS just picked up the notebook - he’ll be back at the Heron HQ in Marylebone in 15 minutes - 2.50pm - and Lisa Ronson will be re-united with her tasks and meeting notes.

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Friday 6 June 2008 pm
Lisa Ronson called and said ‘thank you’ which I appreciated. I was thanked by a Heron secretary, but thanks should not be mediated.
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Of course, the most interesting thing about Gerald Ronson is how he got to be so rich. This from the Management Today column, ‘How he made his pile’:

How did he make his millions? Leaving school at 15 to join the family furniture business, Ronson began exploring other markets, introducing the self-service petrol station to the UK in the ’60s. By the ’80s, Heron, built on property and petrol, was one of the UK’s largest private companies. Work started this year on Heron Tower, 37 floors of as-yet un-let office space in the City.

The secret of his success? Perseverance. When Heron collapsed in 1995, Ronson refinanced it with the help of some of the world’s wealthiest people. He is said to treasure Calvin Coolidge’s words:
‘Persistence and domination alone are omnipotent’.

More on Gerald Ronson:

• Gerald Ronson profile (Independent 2000)
• Gerald Ronson profile (Independent 2003)
• Gerald Ronson profile (Building Magazine 2007)
• Fluffy Gerald Ronson profile by Alex Brummer (The Daily Mail 2008)
• Gerald Ronson and others attacked by Paul Foot (The Socialist Worker Review 1990)
• Gerald Ronson’s other daughter - Benita Refson, founder of the children’s charity theplace2be.org.uk

Lifestyles of the rich and famous - Ronsons and a Johnson at a Stratreal charity bash: