A district governor has been appointed for the 69 Rotary Clubs in the North-East.
Syd Howarth, from Newton Aycliffe, County Dur-ham, will lead the region's 2,200 members in Rotary's centenary year.
The editor of the Newton Aycliffe weekly community newspaper, Newton News, Mr Howarth joined the Rotary in 1982.
He founded Newton Aycliffe's first printing business in 1963, followed two years later by a newspaper.
His preferred charities are ChildLine and North-East invention Aquafilter, which provides clean water for countries where thousands of children die each year from water borne disease.
Mr Howarth is retired and Newton Press is now owned and run by his three sons.
He retains honorary editorship of the Newton News and is involved in the town's community life.
He belongs to 12 organisations and is chairman of the of the Youth Centre Management group and Sedgefield Borough Business Forum.
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