Former Diss Express editor Ron Hunt has died.
Mr Hunt, 77, of Yaxley, died on Friday, January 11, a year after suffering a series of strokes over Christmas 2006.
A funeral and service of thanksgiving will be held on Thursday, January 24. Click
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His grandson Robert Hunt said: "I would like to thank on behalf of the family the well wishers from the very beginning and to all of the cycling and work colleagues who have shown support.
"I am sure that you are all aware Ron will be sorely missed by many, many people."
Ron was a major figure in the regional newspaper industry and was awarded an MBE for services to journalism in 1992.
In 2006 he was
named one of the top 40 people in the history of regional journalism by the Press Gazette.
"It is not a job, it is a way of life," he said at the time of his entry into the hall of fame.
"I think you are lucky if you are doing a job that you like and I have been lucky that my wife has put up with it for 54 years."
Ron, who joined the Diss Express in 1986 when it was the test bed for desktop publishing, entered the Hall of Fame as his impressive career came to a close.
Having started as an office boy in his native Warwickshire at Leamington Spa, Ron spent his National Service in the RAF before returning to the newspaper industry in Birmingham, working for the Gazette, Despatch and Sunday Mercury Group.
He returned to the Leamington Morning News as chief reporter before joining East Midland Allied Press in 1969 as its first editorial training officer.
In 1971 Ron moved to be editor-in-chief at West Suffolk Newspapers at Bury St Edmunds, before becoming editor of the Northamptonshire Evening Telegraph and executive editor for Emap provincial newspapers.
After spending six years as managing editor at the Diss Express, Ron decided it was time to work for himself and had been involved with journalism training up until his stroke.
As well as his newspaper career, Ron was also a member of Diss and District Rotary Club, a former chairman of Diss and District Scouts and a committee member of the Eastern Cyclo-Cross Association and a member of three cycle racing clubs.
Present Diss Express editor Steven Penny paid tribute to his predecessor.
"I first came across Ron early in my career when he was training at a newspaper I worked at in Yorkshire," he said.
"He was such a fantastic teacher, full of enthusiasm for the subject - not just the traditions of the job but was also fully up-to-date and enthused by the very latest technology.
"He came to see me the very first week I started at the Diss Express and was always there for a friendly chat about life as a weekly newspaper editor and always enjoyed talking to the newest trainees to share his ideas with them.
"I would regularly see Ron in Mere Street, always with a crowd of friends and well wishers round him - he had time for everyone.
"He will be sorely missed, not only by the newspaper industry but by the Diss and district community at large."
Ron leaves a widow, Joan, four daughters and five grandchildren.
