TRIBUTES have been paid to “an absolute gentleman” who dedicated his whole career to The Northern Echo.

Jeff Todhunter joined the Echo as a trainee journalist in 1954, embarking on a career that would last right up to the late nineties and beyond, as he continued to contribute to the paper after his official departure in 1998.

Although he initially started as a junior news reporter, Mr Todhunter soon moved into sports journalism and was the Echo’s sports editor between 1972 and 1987 before moving to sub-editing and reporting.

He specialised in boxing and snooker coverage and was himself a talented squash player who competed at county level.

During his time at the Echo he experienced first-hand the vast changes to the industry, from starting his career on typewriters to finishing it with computers, the internet and mobile phones.

Mr Todhunter’s son, Ian, described once visiting his father at work in the Echo’s Darlington office as a small child but he could not see one end of the room from another because of the fug of cigarette smoke and every desk boasted overflowing ashtrays.

“It was a different time,” said Ian. “He was a lovely fellow and a one-job man; he was loyal to the Echo all the way through.

“He enjoyed it and embraced the technology that changed the job so much over the years.”

Mr Todhunter said that since his father’s death on Monday he had unearthed many historical newspaper articles and letters kept by him over the decades, including a very complimentary missive from former Sunday Times editor Sir Harold Evans.

He described his father as “an absolute gentleman” who would always hold the door open and offer his chair up to a woman.

He added: “He was a just a proper old school, decent man.”

Northern Echo editor, Peter Barron, acknowledged Mr Todhunter’s life-long commitment to the newspaper.

He said: “It is very unusual that someone spends their whole career devoted to one job and Jeff was a stalwart of the North-East sports journalism scene.

“He was a gentleman of the old school traditional journalism who stood the test of time.”

Mr Todhunter died peacefully aged 79 at his home in Pierremont Road, Darlington, following a long battle with cancer.

He leaves behind Ian and five grandchildren, having outlived his wife Heather and son Mark.

His funeral is at Darlington Crematorium on January 14 at 10.45am and Mr Todhunter has asked for donations to be sent to St Teresa’s Hospice in lieu of flowers.