Closing Balances

The Daily Telegraph's trademark obituary style, created by Hugh Massingberd, is distinguished by the quality of the writing, the humor and the focus on the individuality and character of the subjects. This new collection, the first to be devoted to the business world, is divided into nine sections, each concentrating on a particular group such as ''City Chaps,'' ''Entrepreneurs,'' ''Rogues and Mavericks,'' or ''Gurus.'' In all, some one hundred individuals who died over the past 20 years are covered, most of them British but also including, under the heading of ''Global Players,'' international figures such as Akio Morita, the founder of Sony, or Giovanni Agnelli of Fiat.