A compositor-turned-journalist who went on to become editor of four weeklies has retired from newspapers after clocking up 50 years in the local press.
Russell Cook has left Archant after serving as editor of the West Suffolk Mercury series – which has editions in Bury St Edmunds, Mildenhall, Sudbury and Stowmarket.
Russell, who worked as a compositor before moving to the newsroom, previously served as deputy editor (news) at the Ipswich star, before spending seven-and-a-half years as editor of the Lowestoft Journal.
He has been succeded as Archant’s West Suffolk editor by chief reporter Emma Brennan, who spent a decade working as a journalist in Perth, Australia before joining the publisher three years ago.
Russell, left, and Emma
Russell returned to the Star as head of news in 2009, prior to taking up the editorship of the Mercury series. He left the company at the end of last month.
Terry Hunt, Archant editor-in-chief for Suffolk, said: “Russell’s career has been extraordinary. Transferring from the composing room into editorial halfway through his career was very courageous, but it has proved to be absolutely the right move.
“Russell has held a number of important editorial roles within Archant, and has thrown himself into all of them with huge enthusiasm and total commitment.
“He has made a great contribution to the company, and to the communities in which he has worked, during his 50 years in newspapers.”
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A real pro -and a great bloke. Archant will be the poorer for the loss of too many journos of his calibre.
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One of the goods guys – enjoy a well earned retirement. Fifty years is an incredible achievement few of us will match.
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Another good guy and top Archant editor left the business to join the recent other leavers.
Enjoy your retirement Russ,the papers will be poorer without your hand on the tiller but a very good time to go
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Enjoy the retirement russell, a great guy and a superb editor who knew his area after years of working in and with the communities he and his papers once served,what a real editor should do to be awarded the role though sadly the role and status today is a pale shadow of what it once was not so very long ago when the role of editor was a respected one.
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Enjoy your retirement Russell,may it be a long and happybone, the glory days of regional publishing is over, the quality of content,like the company’s readers, have gone so the best time to step off the hamster wheel
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I’ll bet the busiest person at Archant these days is the one arranging the leavers collections and ‘comedy’ mock front pages
All the best RC
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