An editor who spent six decades in the regional press and was a “consummate newspaperman” has died aged 83.

Tributes have been paid to Derek Hilton, who spent most of his career on the Hull Daily Mail and its associated sister titles.

During his time there he served as editor of the Mail’s weekly series, with titles covering the city, the East Riding and northern Lincolnshire.

Derek, pictured, had suffered a long illness and died on 30 August, the 80th birthday of his wife Anne, also a former journalist.

Anne said: “Derek was also a keen and very good photographer. He was a very active man who loved meeting local people.

“He really enjoyed bringing people together – he was one of 20 young journalists drawn from around the country who did their National Service at Imphal Barracks, near York and, in later life, he wondered what had happened to them all and set out to find them.

“He did track all of them down and organised a reunion that rekindled their friendships.

“He also liked to organise family reunions.”

Derek began his career as an apprentice on the Chesterfield-based Derbyshire Times, his hometown newspaper, before moving to Hull in 1960.

He met reporter Anne while at the Mail and the couple married in 1968.

They moved to Norwich for a spell to work in the city’s Evening News, but later returned to Hull, where Derek was appointed editor of the Mail’s weekly series, with titles covering the city, the East Riding and northern Lincolnshire.

He later became assistant editor of the Scunthorpe Star and joined PA at Howden, before taking up part-time editorial positions with the Goole Times and Pocklington Times in the latter part of his career.

Former colleagues from his time at the Mail include Roy Woodcock, who first met Derek on joining the staff in 1973.

He said: “He was a meticulous journalist who took immense pride in getting things right, both as a reporter and sub-editor.”

Hull author Brian Lavery added: “Derek Hilton was a consummate newspaperman from whom I learned much.

“He was the last editor of the old Hull Times where I was a reporter – I must have tried his patience more than most, but he was always kind and good humoured.

“I often asked his advice as a young man and still did until recently.

“Derek was an invaluable adviser to me when I was researching my books based on stories he covered as a young reporter.”

Another ex-colleague, Phil Ascough, first met Derek in the Hull newsroom 40 years ago.

He said: “Quietly spoken and with a gentle humour, Derek was a stalwart of an excellent editorial team, a first-rate journalist and a true gentleman of the press.”

Outside of work Derek had a lifelong love of cycle speedway, which he first tried as a boy on tracks formed out of the ruins of bombed buildings and streets.

In the 1970s this led to him creating what would become the Hull Cycle Speedway Club and playing a key role in development of its track and spectator facilities at Hessle.

Former Mail advertising representative Mike Ulyatt said: “I remember how pleased Derek was when he successfully relaunched cycle speedway in the area in 1971 and he was very proud of becoming president of the Hull Cycle Speedway Club.”