Former Travel Daily managing director Jenny Piper has died aged 60, after a two-year battle with a rare cancer. She spent two decades helping the Australian travel trade stay informed, connected and, when it mattered most, hopeful.
For two decades, Jenny Piper led the Business Publishing Group alongside her husband Bruce, turning a daily travel bulletin into a publishing stable that the trade read every morning.
Theirs was a true husband-and-wife combo. Bruce told the news; Jenny, for the most part, ran the show from behind the scenes. The bylines belonged to others, but the operation was hers.
Jenny passed away last week after a courageous fight. She was 60, having celebrated her birthday just four days earlier.
Under her watch, BPG launched Cruise Weekly and Pharmacy Daily, the latter drawing on her own background as a qualified pharmacist.
She built a business through some of the most punishing years this industry has ever faced, all while maintaining an unstoppable work ethic.
Then came 2020, and the chapter she will be remembered for most.
When the borders slammed shut and the trade went dark, Jenny did not retreat. She reached out. The Keep Dreaming initiative she drove for Travel & Cruise Weekly ran to 100 weekly digital editions, built to keep travellers inspired and travel advisors connected while the world stood still.
The video messages, the puzzle pages, the International Doughnut Day silliness, and the 2020 Travel Daily Awards that went ahead despite precious little to celebrate.
She also put her own voice to it. On her podcast, The Chat with Jenny, she sat down one-on-one with women across the Australian and New Zealand travel industry to talk about their careers, their lives and how they got there.
“Jenny cared deeply about travel but even more deeply about the people behind it,” said Karryon general manager Dani Tuffield.
“While we may have been competitors at times, there was always enormous respect and admiration for Jenny and the way she conducted herself. She was generous with her time, passionate about our industry and someone who genuinely wanted to see others succeed.
“Personally, I will always fondly remember a fantastic shopping trip we had in Santa Monica after randomly running into each other. We certainly helped the US economy that day!”
Away from the office, she and Bruce shared a love of two things this industry will smile at: motorsport and cruising. Both were huge Formula 1 fans, and both were devoted cruisers, the kind of people who understood the pull of the open water as well as anyone they wrote for.
Jenny is survived by Bruce, Travel Daily’s editor-at-large, and their children, Sarah, Anna and Ben, all of whom have had a hand in the family business over the years.
A service to celebrate Jenny’s life will be held at 2 pm on Thursday, 18 June, at Saint Augustine’s Anglican Church, 75 Shellcove Road, Neutral Bay, Sydney. All are welcome.
Vale, Jenny. And thank you.
