Keith Harris, a long-standing figure in the UK exhibition industry and co-chairman of Quartz Business Media, has died.

His passing has triggered a wave of messages across the industry offering condolences. Keith was a well-liked and well-connected man who spent most of his professional career in exhibitions and business publishing. He was known for his generous nature, and for building companies and backing people.

Keith started in events when he was 20, and fell in love with the industry immediately – after seeing the value and opportunities it brought to his exhibitors. The first big event he launched was the Storage, Handling and Distribution Exhibition for a company called Turret. Since then, Keith launched and invested in many more events.

He said that his approach to doing business over the years was based on trust. This value of trust was core to Quartz, according to Keith.

“What we are, beyond anything else, is trustworthy. In all the businesses I’m involved with, I’m not a majority shareholder, but I’ve never fallen out with any of them.

“The thing is – it’s all about trust.”

Tony Crinion

Tony Crinion, managing director at Quartz, said Harris was already regarded as a key industry figure when he joined the business.

“Keith was already an industry legend when I first met him,” Crinion said. “His reputation as a charismatic, energetic and exceptional business leader preceded him.”

Crinion said Harris had a lasting influence on those around him, on a personal as well as professional level.

“From my very first day at Quartz, I felt the significant and positive impact he would have on my professional and personal life,” he said.

“His generosity came in many forms – giving his time endlessly to so many, his investment in people to fulfil their potential and dreams, and his wide-reaching social circle. Over the years I heard numerous stories of how he inspired, supported and guided entrepreneurs from the industry.

“He was truly a one-off – big-hearted, a brilliant business mind and a great friend.  He will be deeply missed by so many of us.”

Paul Michael

Paul Michael, chairman of Quartz, also shared warm words about Keith:

“I have known Keith since 1970 when we were both young space salesmen for IPC Business Press. Although we went our separate ways, I stayed in corporate life and Keith started his own company running exhibitions, we kept in touch meeting for lunches and such.”

The two reunited professionally in the early 2000s: “We came together again in 2001 when I decided to go out on my own. He was working freelance for DMGT Exhibitions and business publishing and he asked me to help out running a section of DMG Redhill. In early 2004 he and I bought the then Turret Group, in 2008/9 we bought the DMG Redhill operation and pulled everything together under the Quartz Business Media banner.”

Michael said Harris’s personal qualities shaped what they built: “Thanks to Keith I learned many things. His generosity, energy and charisma linked to his very wide circle of business contacts allowed us to make a significant and positive impact in the exhibition industry.

“He was my friend, business partner, confident and all round good bloke and I for one will miss him terribly.”

Steve Diprose

Steve Diprose met Harris in 2009, following Quartz’s acquisition of the DMG Redhill business.

“From the get-go he was not only a colleague but a great friend and a life mentor both professionally and personally,” Diprose said.

Diprose said Harris’s enthusiasm and willingness to share experience shaped many careers.

“His enthusiasm for life was infectious and his sharing of his experience and knowledge has been of immense value to me,” he said.

Colleagues of Keith have consistently described him as a man who was extremely generous with his time. He was especially known for supporting entrepreneurs and young professionals across the exhibition sector.

“He was truly a one-off, big hearted, a brilliant business mind and a great friend,” Crinion said.

We remember Keith not just for the businesses he built and value he added to the sector, but for the individual people he helped along the way – and the legacy he left behind. He will be missed across the industry.