A sports editor who spent four decades with his hometown daily before leaving last year has died aged 57.

Tributes have been paid to Nigel Dean, who spent 40 years with the Dorset Echo.

Nigel, pictured, began his career as a compositor on the Weymouth-based daily and worked his way up to eventually take the top job on the sportsdesk.

He had been suffering from cancer and died at Dorchester’s Joseph Weld Hospice, surrounded by his family, on 28 August.

Echo editor Diarmuid Macdonagh described Nigel as “one of the most caring, humane people I have had the pleasure to know and work alongside”.

He said: “Finding the right words to do justice to Nigel is near impossible – but we know one thing for certain: nobody has ever found a reason to use a bad one about him.

“Newsrooms can be dysfunctional, stressful places to spend our working days but I never saw Nigel lose his temper, criticise a colleague or waver from the calm, reassuring presence that helped maintain some order and decency amid the chaos.

“We were lucky to have worked alongside him and we should all hope that some of that innate goodness has rubbed off on each and every one of us.

“He made the Echo a better place to be and we should all ensure we strive to be better people for having known him.”

Nigel’s funeral was held on Friday.

He is survived by wife Julie, children Emma and Jonny, mother Marie and siblings Julie and Peter.