Sylvester Stein

Sylvester Stein (25 December 1920 – 28 December 2015) was a South-African writer, publisher and athlete.

Stein was born in Cape Town, South Africa and grew up in Durban, son of a mathematics professor. His sister and brother are both life scientists.

After completing his education as an electrical engineer, Stein volunteered for the Royal Navy during the Second World War. He served mainly on minesweepers, and later moved to the UK to work on the degaussing of ships, a defensive measure against magnetic mines.

Demobbed and married to Jenny Hutt, a Londoner, he returned to South Africa in 1947, where his four children were born. He worked on the Johannesburg Rand Daily Mail as a reporter, and later became editor of Drum magazine.

At this time Stein was a friend and associate of many leading figures in the African National Congress. By 1957, the South African government was beginning to prosecute and imprison political dissenters and Stein, like many others, took the decision to emigrate. Nonetheless, he maintained contact with ANC exiles and helped rejuvenate the party's finances prior to its assumption of power in 1994.

He resumed journalistic work in London, including stints on Reynolds News and the News Chronicle, but soon grew dissatisfied and formed his own publishing company. This company, Stonehart Publications, introduced many innovative newsletters and marketing concepts to the somewhat staid British publishing environment. Reflecting his interest in athletics, in October 1990 he founded the sports performance periodical Peak Performance, and later Sports Injury Bulletin. Both publications continue under the ownership of Green Star Media

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