A regional journalist known for his pioneering coverage of ethnic minority communities has said farewell to the industry after 65 years of service.

Denis Kilcommons, 81, has retired from the Huddersfield Daily Examiner, where he has served as a reporter, and later as a columnist, for half a century

Denis, pictured, joined the Examiner in 1972 and held roles including news reporter, race relations correspondent, rock writer and chief feature writer.

He began writing a column in 1989 and has continued writing a piece three times a week since his retirement from full-time journalism in 2006.

Denis told independent title Huddersfield Hub: “Before arriving here, I’d worked on The Uganda Nation newspaper in East Africa, a couple of provincial titles and did eight years on the Blackpool Evening Gazette.”

He added: “I’ve been running longer than Coronation Street and loved every minute. As someone once said, it’s been the best game in town.”

Former Examiner journalist Andy Hirst, who now runs freelance journalism agency AH! PR, has also paid tribute to Denis.

He said: “I joined the Huddersfield Daily Examiner in June 1987 and quickly realised Denis was someone special.

“Special in that even though he’s quite small – he says he’s 5ft 6in ‘on a good day’ – everyone who aspired to do well in journalism looked up to him.

“Even by then he’d been at the Examiner for 15 years and had led by example, not only for the staff but also for the town.

“In the early 1970s racism was commonplace across the UK but Denis set about changing people’s mindset by specialising in race relations at a time when hardly anyone else in the media bothered.

“Denis knew Huddersfield was a strong multi-cultural community at heart and set about proving that by profiling Asian restaurants, race relations trailblazers in the town and championing everything positive that the influx of immigrants from Pakistan, India, the West Indies and many other countries brought to the town, keeping the textile industry going, setting up their own businesses and giving it a new vibrancy.”

Andy added: “I feel so lucky to have known Denis as a boss, a colleague and someone who believed completely in the power of local newspapers to support its local community, laugh with it in the good times, cry with it in the tough times and never let it down.

“That’s why Denis is so special. That’s why we all looked up to him.

“That’s why Denis inspired me and others to do our best every day we worked at the Examiner as nothing less would ever do. Thanks Denis, from all of us.”