A former sports editor described by colleagues as “popular with everyone” has died aged 72.

Tributes have been paid to Roger Lane, who held the role at the Mid-Devon Advertiser before retiring seven years ago.

Roger, pictured, also worked in roles at the Newton Abbot-based Advertiser including sub-editor.

Former Advertiser editor George Taylor has led the tributes after he died suddenly of a brain haemorrhage.

George told the newspaper: “Roger was a sub-editor with the MDA when I became editor in the early 1990s and he taught me – and other staff – the computer system for that newspaper’s page make-up.

“Roger was a first-class sub-editor who was well-liked in the town and was much appreciated by his colleagues for his good humour and tremendous breadth of general knowledge.”

Roger is survived by his wife Rosemarie, daughters Rebecca and Sarah, and two grandchildren.

Mrs Lane told the Advertiser: “He was a newspaper man all his life and loved working on papers. Wherever he went he always took a keen interest in newspapers. It was in his blood.”

Roger began his career 15 as an apprentice linotype operator at the Cornish & Devon Post and after five years was a fully fledged compositor.

He also worked on the Sunday Independent where he was a father of the National Graphical Association union chapel before moving to the Advertiser in the early 1990s.

Former Advertiser deputy editor Mike Taylor said: “I worked with Roger at the paper for a good few years, mostly while I was in the pre-press department.

“He used to commute from his home just across the Devon/Cornwall border to the Newton Abbot office every day for an 8am start.

“Most lunchtimes he’d have an hour’s snooze in his car – and who could blame him after his early start – but sometimes Roger and I would wander down to the Wolborough Inn for a pint and a game of pool.

“He took a lot of interest in the local sports that he wrote about but his passion was always fishing.”

Ex-news editor John Balment added: “He was a character and popular with everyone. Away from the office his passion was salmon fishing.

“Our thoughts are with his family. Lovely bloke – sad news indeed.”