He rose to the helm of one of the most successful publishing companies as chief executive of Transworld. At the same time, Paul Scherer, who died last month at the age of 79, was a committed Catholic. After spells at Penguin, William Collins, Paul Hamlyn and Mills & Boon, he joined Transworld in 1982. Larry Finlay of Transworld explained that Paul helped to establish their first hardback imprint, Bantam Press, and attracted major authors, including Jilly Cooper, Catherine Cookson and Frederick Forsyth, who had been printed in paperback, to join in hardback. He was also a great supporter of Bloomsbury, serving as a non-executive board director for a decade. Scherer’s wisdom was clearly valued as he was asked by Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor to assist in the public affairs