The death of Dave Goodman, the Stoke Sentinel’s Grey Power columnist, has been greeted with sadness by leading figures across Staffordshire.

MPs, religious leaders and fellow journalists have been quick to pay tribute to the writer who championed the cause of the elderly.

At a specially convened meeting of the North Staffs Pensioners Convention, of which Mr Goodman was chairman, a packed hall listened as Sentinel editor Sean Dooley spoke of his life.

He said: “As an ambassador to your cause, he was without parallel. In his other role as a columnist, he was an editor’s dream”

Keele University professor, Chris Phillipon, a patron of the convention, said: “In the Eighties, when there were great divisions in the pension movement, that period brought out his fantastic qualities of clarity, vision and optimism which were always there.”

Reverend Arthur Creber, of St Giles Church in Newcastle, Staffs, said: “What I found Dave to be was a man of justice and compassion.”

Also present at the meeting were representatives from Age Concern, Help the Aged, the National Union of Mineworkers and the North Staffs Trades Union Council.

Earlier, Staffordshire MP, Charlotte Atkins, had written to the paper to pay tribute to Mr Goodman.

She said: “As a local MP I found him to be a well-informed, passionate and extremely thoughtful man.

“His departure will leave a huge void – not just locally but nationally as well.”

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