Obituary: Jane Grounsell, publisher, 56

Jane Grounsell, a well-known figure in Edinburgh's small publishing community, has died, aged 56.

Born and raised in Leeds, Mrs Grounsell graduated from the University of Manchester with a degree in zoology before taking up her first job as a picture researcher for Marshall Cavendish in London, working on the part-work encyclopaedia Tree of Knowledge.

Working in pre-internet days, when images were selected by looking at slides over afternoon tea, Mrs Groundsell excelled at her job, using her considerable charm and no-nonsense approach to befriend the eccentric ladies who managed some of the richer and more inaccessible picture libraries at the time.

She had a keen eye for the stunning photograph, which could both illustrate the text and be visually appealing, and it was not long before many of the illustrations from her Human Life strand were being used on the cover of the magazine.

After leaving the company she joined her future husband Jon in Edinburgh.

For the next 17 years she worked with the medical publisher, Churchill Livingstone, rising to the post of marketing director and winning sponsorship for a Masters in business administration from the Open University, which she gained in 1996.

She was a member of the senior management group, the divisional executive group and chair of the medical education group.

At T&T Clark, the independent publisher of Scots law and religion titles, she was director of sales and marketing for five years until it was taken over by Continuum Press.

As a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing at this time, a chance certificate of personal development requirement led to her taking a course in creative writing, and she later arranged for her group's work to be published. 4play with Words was the only time her own name appeared in print. Her poetry was well received.

In 2000 Mrs Groundsell joined Bristol-based Alban Books as managing director. She had no intention of leaving Edinburgh permanently however, and commuted weekly until she was able to relocate the company to Scotland.

At Alban she reversed steadily declining sales and expanded the company by persuading three more competitor publishers to be represented by the company; her walking tour of properties on the Royal Mile being particularly winning for the directors of Westminster John Knox Press.

Her family said that her mantra was: "If you have to eat a frog, eat it quickly; if you have to eat two frogs, eat the fat one first", which she applied in business, family life, and to her cancer treatment.

She is survived by her husband Jon, and two daughters, Fay and Eva.