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John Hitchen, General Manager of Diamond UK, Died Last Week

Published Tue, 09 Oct 2018 10:30:20 -0500

John Hitchen, longtime General Manager at Diamond UK, died last week. After a two-year battle with a serious medical issue, he passed away on October 5th.

Hitchen was there at the beginning of Diamond UK, when they bought out Pacific Distributors in 1991 to compete with Titan Distribution in the UK. When Diamond then bought Titan Distributors in 1993 from Nick Landau, and merged the two operations, Hitchen became the direct manager of Titan, which then changed its name to Diamond Comic Distributors UK.

In tributes, Diamond President & CEO Steve Geppi said "John was a solid mentor to others, providing encouragement and leadership. John was smart with a great sense of humor. A wonderful leader. He was not only a colleague, but a friend to many in our organization as well. He was an excellent manager as well as a devoted husband, father and grandfather. He will truly be missed."

Diamond UK Interim General Manager Mike Holman who has carried out Hitchen's role at Diamond UK since July, said "John was a friend first and foremost who later in life became my manager but in his own unique way, John was always more of a colleague than anything else. I take great pride in the fact that after his guidance and encouragement I now find myself in his shoes, and it is with the greatest respect to him that I plan to move Diamond UK forward in the future."

Funeral arrangements are pending. Bleeding Cool sends our condolences, thoughts prayers to his nearest and dearest.

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