A former Sussex Express reporter and newsagent has died a week after the birth of his first grandson.

Graham Cheshire was 61 when he passed away at Eastbourne District General Hospital just a week after his first grandson Liam came into the world.

Graham worked at the Lewes office of the Sussex Express from 1966 to 1969 before becoming chief reporter at the paper’s Hailsham office until 1974.

He also spent two years as deputy chief reporter at the East Grinstead Observer and three years as circulation manager for the Westminster Press newspaper group.

One of Graham’s big passions was speedway and he continued to contribute articles to local papers and also the Sunday Express after he retired from journalism.

Son Jamie, a journalist for the Connors news agency in Lewes, said: “He was a newspaper man through and through. Even on the day he died he got a story about speedway with his byline in the Eastbourne Herald.”

Graham’s varied CV also included running a Lincolnshire pub, a PR firm and a kissagram agency.

In the early 1960s he helped his father run a newsagents in Eastbourne and these skills continued after he left the local press to run his own business.

Graham also headed up the relaunch of sales of the London Evening Standard across the south coast of Sussex after the paper hadn’t been in shops there for 17 years.

He also served as secretary of Hailsham Chamber of Commerce in 1973 and as assistant secretary of a local community association.

Graham is survived by his three children Jamie, Nick and Sarah and grandson Liam.

A celebration of his life will be held on Friday at Eastbourne Crematorium, at 3.15pm.

Graham helping to relaunch sales of the Evening Standard in Sussex