Tributes have been paid to the former editor of a regional daily who has died suddenly at the age of 73.

Richard Mallinson led the Huddersfield Daily Examiner for four years after being the assistant editor of the title for 21 years.

He previously worked for the newspaper in the 1960s as a sub-editor and also spent time as a correspondent for The Guardian.

Richard, who was known as Dick, died at his home in West Sussex after suffering a brain haemorrhage.

Neil Atkinson, head of news at the Examiner, said: “Richard Mallinson was a journalist through and through, who cared deeply about local newspapers in general and the Examiner in particular.

“He loved nothing more than getting hold of a story about a local issue which was causing concern to people in the town and using the columns of the Examiner to take up the fight.”

Richard started out in journalism as a junior reporter on a London weekly newspaper after graduating from Oxford University.

He was keen to return to his home area, so then took a job as a sub-editor at the Examiner in 1960.

Richard left shortly afterwards to become a special features editor and property correspondent for The Guardian.

But in 1970, he accepted a role back at the Examiner as assistant editor and writer of the comment column.

His son, also called Richard, said: “Journalism was his life. He always wanted to write and make a difference, to get his views down on paper and have these discussed by other people.”

Richard was a director of the Examiner from 1974 and also served as chairman of the newspaper’s Pride in Huddersfield campaign.

He became the eighth editor of the newspaper in 1991 and stayed in the role until his retirement in 1995, when he and wife Jackie moved to Sussex.