A former chief reporter who spent 45 years at a regional daily has died at the age of 81 – followed nine days later by his wife of 57 years.

Neil Kerr worked at the Derby Telegraph for his whole career until he retired from the newspaper in 1995.

He spent many years running the title’s district office in Ripley until its closure before moving to its Derby headquarters as chief reporter.

Neil died suddenly of a stroke and his 79-year-old wife Joyce, also pictured above, died nine days later following a long battle with Parkinson’s disease.

Their son Tim told the paper: “Dad spent his entire career at the Derby Evening Telegraph as was. For many years he ran the Ripley district office.

“Among his roles were the theatre critic for the Nottingham theatres – as well as reporting on local football teams such as Heanor Town and Alfreton Town.

“For the last 10 years, he was based at the paper’s Derby headquarters where he was chief reporter. Dad retired in 1995 after 45 years unbroken service.”

Long-standing Telegraph journalists who worked with Neil have also paid tribute to him.

Colston Crawford, deputy sports editor at the Telegraph, said: “Neil was a popular character in the news room at Derby when he moved down from the paper’s Ripley office.

“He had a ready wit and never took himself too seriously but he was always diligent and thorough and, like most old-school journalists, knew his patch in great detail.

“If you needed to know what was happening in Ripley, chances are he knew about it.”

Education reporter Zena Hawley added: “Neil was always a well-respected and well-thought of journalist. Many a young trainee reporter spent time in his company learning from his vast experience.”

Neil got married in 1958 to his wife Joyce, who was active in local politics and received an MBE for public and political services in the late 1980s.

They leave sons sons Tim and Jonathan, five grandchildren and five step-grandchildren.

A joint funeral took place on Monday for the couple.