A regional newspaper boss hailed as a newspaper production “visionary” by Rupert Murdoch after spearheading efforts to introduce new technology into the industry has died aged 88.

Christopher Pole-Carew was one of the most controversial figures in newspapers in the late 70s and early 80s when unions and management were at odds over the introduction of computers in newsrooms and print plants.

As managing director of the Nottingham Post, Mr Pole Carew, left, was at the centre of two major industrial disputes in the 1970s, including the last national strike by UK journalists in 1978.

According to an obituary in The Times, Mr Pole-Carew was a moderniser “engaged in a battle to transform the Dickensian work practices” at the the family-owned daily.  To the National Union of Journalists, however, he was a “union buster.”

The first of two major strikes under his watch, in 1973, saw 200 employees dismissed for failing to report for work, while in 1978 28 reporters and sub-editors were sacked after joining a national NUJ strike.

According to The Times, Mr Pole-Carew received death threats through his letter box, while a coffin was also delivered to his house.

But his uncompromising strategy caught the attention of Rupert Murdoch, who in 1985 hired him as an adviser to oversee the move of his News International titles to Wapping, East London.

Mr Murdoch later described him as a “visionary for modern newspaper production methods.”

Born in 1931, Mr Pole-Carew was educated at Great Walstead School and the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth.

He went into newspapers after serving in the Royal Navy and as well as working for the Post and News UK also worked briefly for Robert Maxwell’s London Daily News.

He was appointed as High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire in 1979, leading to aa House of Commons motion deploring the move.

Mr Pole-Carew, who lived near Axminster in Devon, died last month from pancreatic cancer.