Obituary: Martin Langford FCIPR
The Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) is saddened to learn of the death of Martin Langford, a Fellow of the Institute.
A member of the Institute since 1984, Martin enjoyed a distinguished career in public relations earning a global reputation as a leading crisis communications practitioner.
Martin was in his day one of the best known names in crisis management working for major organisations all over the world. Apart from his humour, which he and I shared in London, Singapore and many other places on our ' adventures ' as PR developed internationally, he passed on his knowledge via books and teaching on this much in demand niche area of crisis and issues.
We have lost one of the great public relations practitioners from our industry - Martin was an inspirational leader, a great boss, respected by clients and staff alike and revelled in his 'master of disaster' moniker. Most of all he was a good man, focused equally on his family as his career so a strong role model for us aspiring, determined, young PR professionals.
Martin was rightly named the named as the “The Master of Disaster” by the UK’s Daily Telegraph newspaper in 1990 for his legendary expertise in the field of crisis management much of it delivered with Burson-Marsteller, the firm that he served so loyally for over 32 years from January 1971. Martin was truly a legend in his own lifetime and was the deserved recipient of many PR industry awards including being named by PRWeek as “Public Relations Professional of the Year". He will be missed by many.
There will be a Thanksgiving Service to celebrate Martin's life at St John's Church in Kingsdown, Kent CT14 8AT on Monday 5th September at 2pm.
Martin's daughters Kirstyn and Kate are collating memories, tributes and photos in a book. You can send these to rememberingmartinlangford@gmail.com. If you wish to make a donation in memory of Martin, the family has asked that goes to the Motor Neurone Disease Association or to the Pilgrim's Hospice in Margate.