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Judith Millman

By 10th March 2011July 27th, 2023No Comments
News

It is with great sadness that we mark the passing of former Guild member, friend and colleague Judith Millman.

Ruth Jewkes compiled the following appreciation.

Judith Millman was assistant editor of Livestock Farming in the mid-1980s, having moved there from Big Farm Management in 1982. She ventured into public relations a few years later, joining Sarah Pharo to set up Pharo Communications above a book shop in Esher, and remained with the company until early 2005 when she decided to take early retirement.

Judith was highly respected by a client list which stayed loyal to her for many years and included some of British farming’s biggest names. Nestlé, for example, maintained that Judith’s clear, open style of communication was key to the success of its campaign to sign-up dairy farmers following the abolition of the Milk Marketing Board.

Steve Mitchell, a colleague at both Morgan Grampian and Pharo Communications recalls: “Judith was one of the most gentle, kind and unassuming people I’ve ever met, so she provided the perfect (and necessary!) foil to her more extravagant and extrovert bosses over the years.  Having said that, she didn’t suffer fools gladly, and could be very single minded and determined when she wanted to be. She was very much one for getting on with the job, quietly, efficiently and in a highly professional manner, and I do know she served her PR clients over the years extremely well.”

Judith won the Guild’s Perkins Power on the Farm Award in 1982 and remained a committed member of the Guild, actively involved in welcoming overseas colleagues to the IFAJ Congress staged in Britain in both 1987 and 1997.

Since retirement from agricultural PR and from the Guild, Judith became active in her Hayling Island community, using her communication skills to work on local initiatives such the village design statement. She still found time for her beloved garden and her lifelong love of choral singing – she was an enthusiastic member and Chairman of the Portsmouth Choral Union.

Judith lost her year-long battle with cancer in April 2010. She is survived by her husband Paul.