Former Covent Garden wholesaler Ray Hopley has passed away at the age of 74 following a courageous three-year struggle with cancer.
Hopley’s career in wholesale saw him work at flower trader Barney Springer and Mack. Fruiterer Dick Brighten said Hopley was “one of the legends of Covent Garden”. “Hopley was one of the finest wholesale market salesmen that I had the good fortune to deal with,” Brighten said. “Unlike his contemporaries in the same league Ray did not shine in a ‘trumpy’ market but performed brilliantly with a volume challenge.
“There are a number of fruit growers in South Africa and other parts of the globe that owe a fair share of their successes to Ray’s energies and skills,” he added.
Over to west London, former Western International stalwart Terry ‘Tel’ Fleming has passed away after a short illness.
Fleming followed his father into the business when he joined E James in 1949 as a ‘banana boy’, and went on to become a director after his father’s death. Described as a “tough but fair salesman”, Fleming moved with the market to its new site in Hounslow and remained with the firm as chief salesman until 1999.
Son Tom Fleming said: “He was well known and respected among the import side of the business too as a hard-working, honest man of firm integrity. They don’t make them like dad anymore.”
