A regional journalist described as “one of the finest story-getters of his generation” has died suddenly aged 63, leaving the newsroom he worked in “devastated”.

Tributes have been paid to Adrian Curtis, who had worked for the Cambridge Independent since its launch in 2016.

During his career, Adrian also worked on regional and national titles including the Lincolnshire Echo, Mail on Sunday, Evening Standard and the Press Association.

He was taken to hospital for emergency surgery on Wednesday but died in the evening.

Adrian’s death was announced on Twitter by his son Leigh, who is Notts County writer for the Nottingham Post.

Leigh wrote: “It is with great sadness and a broken heart to say that my dad Adrian passed away yesterday.

“He was my friend, my mentor and my hero.”

Adrian, pictured, began his career at the Scunthorpe Star before moving on to Angling Times to write about fishing, a lifelong passion.

He then switched to football writing with Match and Shoot magazines in the 1990s, where he held roles including features editor and deputy editor.

Adrian had spells with Hayters Teamwork and the Mail on Sunday before joining the Evening Standard in the late 1990s as its Tottenham Hotspur correspondent, covering the club he had supported as a boy.

He switched clubs in 2004 to cover Chelsea for PA before leaving football reporting altogether six years later to start his own publishing company specialising in another of his interests, railways.

Adrian, known to friends and colleagues as ‘Dippa’, returned to newspapers with the Lincolnshire Echo, where he worked with Leigh.

In a tribute piece published by the Football Writers’ Association, Leigh said: “My dad was an inspiration and to be able to work alongside such a top operator and a fantastic journalist at the Echo was an honour and a privilege. He was my idol.”

Adrian was a member of the launch team for the Independent, and continued to write about football, fishing and railways until his death.

Independent editor Paul Brackley told HTFP: “Adrian was a great character and a terrific guy. His dry wit and sense of humour made him very popular with everyone at the Cambridge Independent, and we are devastated.

“Adrian had a varied and fascinating career in journalism. We recruited him ahead of the launch of the Cambridge Independent in 2016 and he helped us to create the paper it is today.

“He primarily focused on news with us but would also, when needed, dust off his brilliant football reporting skills and we watched an accomplished professional at work.

“The newsroom is in shock at his loss and our thoughts are with his family and friends. We feel fortunate to count ourselves among his friends and colleagues and to have worked with Adrian over these last five years.”

Gerry Cox, former chairman of the FWA, knew him for over 30 years.

He said: “When I first met Dippa, I had no idea what lay under the bonnet. His lugubrious manner, hangdog face and grunted greeting disguised a razor-sharp wit, brilliant mind and most importantly, such a fun-loving and friendly demeanour that me, and dozens of others, were in his debt forever.

“He was an old school hack in appearance, lacking only the trenchcoat and trilby of caricature, and he was old-fashioned in the way he went about his work, which was exactly why he was so good at it.

“I quickly learned why he had a contacts book that was the envy of so many of our peers – he’d built rock-solid relationships with some of the biggest names in football by sticking to the fundamental journalistic principles of trust, honest and integrity.

“Those virtues, learned on local papers and then in magazine and agency work, enabled him to break back page leads for national newspapers time and time again, though he rarely got full credit, choosing to pass them on to his favoured proteges, some of whom went on to have fine careers.

“But none of them – and few of us – can claim to have quite as varied a career as Dippa.”

Adrian is survived by Leigh and Sarah from his first marriage, and son Samuel from his marriage to Christine.

The couple recently celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary.