A former regional press journalist who became editor of a specialist business newspaper has died at the age of 78.

Geoff Whiteley started out in journalism at the Oldham Chronicle and the Manchester Evening News before becoming industrial correspondent at the Guardian.

He then joined Co-operative News as editor in 1986, a fortnightly newspaper for the UK co-operative and social enterprise sectors, where he remained until his retirement in 1999.

Geoff had been in poor health for some time and died at his home in Oldham just before Christmas.

In an obituary on the News’ website, managing editor Dave Bowman said: “Geoff was an outstanding journalist and a lovely man, who saw it as his role and duty to expose bad management practices whenever and wherever they occurred.

“Geoff will probably be best remembered for his in-depth coverage of the abortive bid by entrepreneur Andrew Regan to take over CWS (now known as the Co-operative Group) in the early part of 1997.”

While at the helm of the News, which was then published weekly, Geoff became known for his hard-hitting reports and opinion pieces.

His wife died in 1997 but he leaves sons Jon and Graham and granddaughter Ellie.