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Former news editor dies four months after retirement

A “popular and competent” journalist and columnist who worked for his local paper for more than four decades has lost his battle with cancer, just months after retiring.

John Adams, who worked with hundreds of reporters and seven different editors at the Comet series of newspapers in Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire, retired in January after 46 years with the group.

He had been battling with the disease since November 2010.

Tributes have been pouring in for the former news editor to the Comet since the news broke.

Stevenage Borough Council leader Sharon Taylor said he had made a “huge contribution” to making the newspapers part of the community.

“I think it’s terribly sad that now he’s just taken a step back for a well-earned rest and has died so suddenly,” she said.

Comet editor Darren Isted paid tribute to John, describing him as being “everything that’s best about the local press”.

“He knew the people and places of this area intimately, from the big political figures to the volunteers and group organisers who did so much but never hit the headlines,” he said.

“The North Herts marketplace has been through a number of changes but John was the guiding hand to make sure that the Comet has not only survived but also thrived to remain as the dominant product.

“For a few years John was news editor of the Comet, the Herald and the North Herts Gazette as all three titles were owned by one company. He juggled that role with his trademark calm and unflustered demeanour.

“On a personal level he was there when I started at the Comet as a very raw junior reporter and taught me to try and stay calm, even when under extreme pressure.

“His loss is felt by all in the media family but I have lost a great colleague and friend. Even now I want to shout out his name and ask the spelling of a road name and in which town or village it is situated. John would know, he always did and he was never wrong.

“The greatest tribute one can pay to John is that, despite severe ill health in the past year, he has shown strength and courage which have made him a role model for all.”

One of his former colleagues at the Comet, Phil Morey, said John had been “the most remarkable of men.”

“[He was] able to keep his head in the pressured environment of a newsroom at deadline, unflappable and infinitely dependable, inspiring and caring,” he said.

“He was a man out of the very top drawer, a true gentleman, and a consummate journalist. He will be sorely missed.”

John Adams and wife Judy (centre) celebrate at his retirement party with his Comet colleagues in January

Alan Millard, another former colleague who worked alongside John for 40 years until retiring in 2009, added: We enjoyed working together on countless occasions, covering many tragic and happy events over the years, including numerous royal visits and even a trip to Switzerland to cover It’s a Knockout.

“We had a great time together, enjoying every aspect of journalism and the work involved in producing a newspaper.

“John was a very popular and competent journalist who will be sadly missed by us all. My thoughts go out to his widow Judy and family.”

John started out working on the Home Counties Newspapers and the predecessor to the Comet, a publication called The Pictorial.

He went on to become chief reporter and then news editor for the series, now owned by Archant, which includes the Hitchin Comet, the Letchworth & Baldock Comet and the Stevenage Comet.

Speaking in January, he said he never relished the thought of trying to make it on the nationals – preferring instead to stick to local news.

“I just enjoyed it. Many people went to regional papers or Fleet Street, but I never did. I never fancied travelling to London every day, working all hours, being sent to Newcastle every day,” he said.

“I preferred a social life and family life, and it was only because I enjoyed the job so much I could do that as well. I wouldn’t have stayed if I didn’t enjoy the job.”

John also amused readers with his Perspective column, which he wrote for 12 years.