Tributes have been paid to a former North East journalist with a distinct "passion" for the region who worked for The Northern Echo for 30 years - including more than a decade as managing director.
David Kelly was a man with "impeccable journalistic principle", said his former colleagues who have today issued glowing tributes to him following his death on Tuesday, aged 78.
Mr Kelly began his newspaper career as a journalist on the Middlesex Chronicle, then moved to the Swindon Evening Advertiser before joining The Northern Echo as features editor in 1976.
He went on to become deputy editor of The Northern Echo and then, in 1995, managing director of Newsquest North East, before his retirement aged 60 in 2006.
Former colleagues of Mr Kelly have issued heartfelt tributes in his memory and praised him for his work at The Northern Echo.
Peter Barron, the longest-serving editor of the Echo, was among those paying tribute.
He said: "David will be remembered for his passion for campaigning journalism and the newspaper businesses that he looked after during his time with Westminster Press and then Newsquest.
"He cared especially deeply about The Northern Echo, and the Darlington & Stockton Times, and all the people who worked for those historic titles.
"He was empathetic, creative, thoughtful, and believed fundamentally in journalists being immersed in their communities. If he had a fault it was that, at times, he worried too much.
"I started working with David when I joined The Northern Echo as a young reporter in 1984, and he was deputy editor.
"As managing director, it was him who appointed me as editor of The Northern Echo in 1999. I’ll be forever grateful to him for making my dream come true, and all the guidance and care he gave so generously along the way."
Allan Prosser, editor of The Northern Echo from 1982 to 1990 added: "David Kelly was throughout his career a man of impeccable journalistic principle and one of the few to accomplish the move from the newsroom floor to the managing director’s chair without a false step.
"He was a tireless worker with an innovative mind who always sought to achieve the best results for readers and advertisers and colleagues with the resources he had available.
"I worked with him closely for more than a decade and regarded him both as an indefatigable ally, and a man of honour. He was also a good friend whose sound advice and insight will be very much missed."
David Coates, Newsquest regional managing director, said: "I know how widely liked and respected David was among our team, and all our thoughts are with our colleague Jo, David’s daughter, and the rest of David’s family."
Award-winning columnist Mike Amos, who worked at The Northern Echo for more than 40 years, added: "David Kelly was a first-class journalist, a senior manager who never forgot that he'd been one of the troops and a caring and compassionate human being.
"We were colleagues for 30 years, friends for 50. He was a stylish and accomplished features editor, more patient with the youthful John North columnist than probably that gentleman deserved, before rising to become managing director at a time when the perceived golden age of provincial newspapers was ending.
"Far more than we're ever likely to know, he appeared to handle a multiplicity of challenges with dexterity, diligence and consideration for many others.
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"After taking early retirement he moved to Teesdale, where he'd hoped to enjoy rural pursuits - not least fishing - even becoming clerk to Mickleton Parish Council. He still wanted to be busy, still involved, the great tragedy that the first of many illnesses struck him fairly soon afterwards.
"Over many years he battled a hideous range of afflictions with courage and resilience. When last I saw him a few weeks back he was still good company, still a good host, still keen to know all that was happening in his former world. He was a great man."
Malcolm Warne, former editor of the Darlington & Stockton Times, said: "David Kelly led Newsquest (North East) Ltd and before that North of England Newspapers through a period of unprecedented change in the newspaper industry. A brilliant journalist and then a highly effective and compassionate manager, he was always a champion for the readers of the newspapers produced in Priestgate and a firm believer that those newspapers should be champions of the disparate communities they served.
"As editor of the company's weekly titles I could always count on his support in good times and bad. It was a privilege to work with him as a colleague and to have him as a friend."
Peter Sands, editor of The Northern Echo from 1989 to 1993, added: "David was certainly a one-off. There was no one more passionate, committed or loyal to The Northern Echo than he was."
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