My friend and colleague Trevor Moore, who has died aged 79, was a passionate advocate for a number of publishers’ lists, spending most of his working life in the book trade. Trevor’s early career spanned Hutchinson, Hamish Hamilton, Collins, Andre Deutsch, Methuen, Hodder, Weidenfeld and Bantam Press. In 1986 he joined Random House (then Century Hutchinson) and represented that company in north London and East Anglia until his retirement, winning the Waterstones Rep of the Year award in 2012.
Trevor was a tireless champion for both fiction and non-fiction, a friend to numerous authors and a great supporter of independent bookshops and booksellers.
He was born in Upminster, east London, the only child of Dorothy (nee Link) and Eric Moore. Dorothy died when Trevor was still a child and his father, a civil servant, later remarried a teacher from Trevor’s school, bringing step-siblings to the family. Trevor undertook his national service with the RAF, and he credited running the recreational library at Kenley in Surrey while still in service with igniting his passion for books and reading.
A first marriage to Anne Jenner in his 20s ended in divorce, and in his early 40s Trevor met and fell in love with Pam Valdar, marrying after a whirlwind romance. Trevor became a much-loved friend to Pam’s son Andy and daughter Sarah, and a co-carer and parent for her daughter Kate.
Kate died in 2002, and Pam in 2007. After Pam’s death Trevor went on to renew an early friendship with Elsa, an old colleague, and found love again. In recent years he frequently visited Elsa in her native Argentina and also fell in love with that country and their way of life – the tangos, the music and in particular the wine and beefsteaks.
Trevor’s other great passions included his beloved Suffolk – especially its country pubs and local produce – as well as jazz and classical music and playing bowls. He was an enthusiastic and excellent cook and a connoisseur of fine wines, a superb mimic and an irrepressible raconteur.
Elsa survives him.
