Park Theatre founder passes away, aged 80

A man from Crouch End who founded a theatre and pioneered financial marketing has passed away at age 80.

Jeremy Bond, one of the founding members of the Park Theatre, in Finsbury Park, died on May 7 following years of declining health.

He was born in Norwich in 1939 to Moyra Bond, an author of the primary school exam practice Bond Assessment Papers, and Raymond Bond, a founder of the agricultural show in Aylsham.

The couple separated in 1946, just before Jeremy’s younger brother was born, and Moyra took the brothers to live in Swanage, where her father managed the local steam laundry.

After two short stays at local schools, Jeremy was sent to board in Bournemouth, where he said he so frequently endured corporal punishment the headmaster’s study was once referred to as “Bond’s favourite spot”.

Jeremy went to Poole Grammar School for secondary education, but left at 16 with just three O Levels.

In his early 20s, Jeremy wrote a series of musicals for students at the then-girls’ school where Moyra had become headmistress, Avalon, and started working at the Cadbury factory in Moreton.

The passionate reader and history buff was soon invited to join create new products in the research department - a difficult task given most of the chocolate bars used recycled coatings from the production line and therefore tasted the same.

After he moved to London, Jeremy met a Hungarian who had escaped from Budapest during the uprising of 1956, Viktoria Lengyel-Rheinfuss, and married her in 1967.

While working with Provident Mutual Life Assurance in Leeds, Jeremy pioneered the concept of marketing in the financial sector and later established his own dedicated consultancy, Moorgate Marketing.

The company went global and floated on the stock exchange in the early 80s, but was liquidated following a hostile takeover around 1990.

This left Jeremy unemployed and in debt, as he had personally borrowed to funnel cash into the business.

However, Jeremy took a number of local clients to a new smaller business and managed to pay off the loans.

His son, Jez Bond, said: “He was probably the most strong-willed, determined and confident person I have ever known in my life.

“He was an inspiration.”

In 2016, a play authored by Jeremy called The Cause was staged at the Jermyn Street Theatre in London.

Jeremy is survived by his wife Vicky and their three children, six grandchildren and one great-grand-child.