Donald Trelford, the former editor of the Observer newspaper, has died aged 85, his family have announced.
The journalist, author and academic, who edited the Observer for 18 years between 1975 and 1993, died after a long illness on Friday in Mallorca, where he had lived for the past decade, said his wife, Claire.
During his tenure as editor, the newspaper won many press awards including newspaper of the year, and he was commended as international editor of the year in 1984. He was the author of several books and helped the Russian chess great and anti-Putin political activist Garry Kasparov write his autobiography.
“He was a man who loved his sport, his family, and loved being in Mallorca,” his wife said. “He lived life to the full. He was a great storyteller and raconteur. I think all his friends know most of his stories. Friends of all ages wanted to be with him so he could share his life stories.
“And they in the end were the ones who pushed him to write his memoirs.”
Of his career in journalism, she added: “He was tenacious. He didn’t come up the conventional way. Although he had been to Cambridge and it was unusual, he was a working-class lad from Coventry. He had done national service in the RAF and I think that opened up his eyes.
“But he was able to speak to anybody. He was as much a friend of the guy working in the lift as he was [to those] from journalism.”
Paul Webster, editor of the Observer, said: “Donald Trelford was a newspaperman to his roots. An inspiring editor, a first-rate writer, a creative design expert, a brave and resourceful reporter, and an adroit political operator, he navigated the Observer through the stormy waters created through its ownership by Tiny Rowland’s Lonrho company.
“Donald ensured that it remained a bastion of liberal journalism throughout his years in charge. He will be remembered by his staff and the paper’s readers for the energy, daring and fun that he brought to the Observer, and for being a first-class journalist.”
Born in Coventry in November 1937 and educated at Bablake school, where he was head boy, he studied at Selwyn College, Cambridge, and also undertook national service in the RAF.
After Cambridge he worked for newspapers in Coventry and Sheffield before being appointed editor of the Nyasaland Times, later the Times of Malawi, at the age of 25.
He joined the Observer in London in 1966 as assistant news editor before rising to succeed David Astor as editor in 1975. After leaving the Observer in 1993, he helped launch a department of journalism studies at the University of Sheffield.
He married three times and has six children, one of whom predeceased him.