Former regional newspaper editor Jack Whitfield has died. He was 88.

An experienced journalist, who had enjoyed a distinguished career which saw him edit both the Grimsby Evening Telegraph and the Hull Daily Mail, he believed passionately that local newspapers should play a pivotal part in their communities.

Jack began his career at the Lincolnshire Times in Brigg, and also worked on the Lincolnshire Chronicle, Scunthorpe Star and the Batley News, before joining the Grimsby Evening Telegraph as a sub-editor.

From there he moved to the Scunthorpe Evening Telegraph to become news editor, a post he also later held at the Hull Daily Mail.

In 1966 he was appointed editor of the Grimsby Evening Telegraph, and during his seven years there he launched a successful campaign to save Grimsby Town Football Club, which was then on the brink of financial collapse.

He also showed a genuine interest in the wellbeing of his reporters and photographers – and once instructed them not to drive faster than 30mph, however urgent the story.

He became editor of the Hull Daily Mail in 1973, retiring four years later.

Jack was also a talented guitarist, and he once performed on BBC national radio.

He had a regular spot on the BBC’s Children’s Hour in the early 1960s, and was promised a second series before being told an up and coming band called The Beatles would be filling the spot.

Jack leaves a son, Chris, and a daughter, Valerie. His wife Renee died in 1991.

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