Press man with ink in his veins
TRIBUTES TO SUNDAY SUN EX-DEPUTY EDITOR
THE much-respected former deputy editor of the Sunday Sun, Roger Bolam, has died aged 80 following a suspected heart attack.
His old colleagues were quick to pay tribute to the ‘ultimate professional’ who was also warmly remembered as “engagingly eccentric - in the best possible way”.
He passed away on Monday in hospital in Cramlington with his beloved wife Ann at his side.
Roger’s funeral is to be held on Thursday at St Cuthbert’s Church in Elsdon, the Northumberland village the couple raised their family for many years.
A wake is planned in the local pub, the Bird in Bush. Roger’s son, Matthew Bolam, said it could prove quite an event.
He said: “My dad didn’t have a bad word to say about anybody and was very well-liked.
“He loved mixing with all the locals after work in the pub. He had no airs and graces. He also did a lot of voluntary work in the community.”
Matthew revealed his dad’s favourite tipple was a gin and tonic and the pub would be stocking 30 different types of gin for those attending the wake to try.
He added: “We’re all so proud of my dad. He was the nicest man.”
Roger was the son of former Daily Mirror editor Silvester Bolam. He attended Abbotsholme School in Staffordshire and after National Service in the RAF he became a newspaperman, coming to work as a reporter on the Journal around 1959, before moving to the Sunday Times in 1963.
He returned to the North East and what was then the Thomson Group in 1972, first at the Evening Chronicle where he rose to sub editor before moving to the Sunday Sun as deputy editor. He left in 1996 to become editor in chief of the Morpeth Herald and Post.
Roger loved the outdoors but after developing Parkinson’s, he and Ann chose to move from their remote home in Elsdon to Bellingham.
Alistair Baker worked with him for many years, including as Sunday Sun news editor when Roger was deputy editor.
In a heartfelt tribute, he said: “Roger was a real traditional gentleman father of the press who had printers ink flowing through veins.
“His passion in pursuit of getting after the facts and balancing every side for a responsible, truthful story was almost as strong as his immense pride in his family.
“Roger was a true faithful father of both the press and his family. He leaves a legacy through all those many journalists he helped to nurture over the years of his long and much respected career as well as with those he touched as a kind decent loving colleague, friend and father.”
And Marilyn Over, who was deputy chief sub editor at the Chronicle when Roger was Production Editor, added: “I have very happy memories of working with Roger. He was a great colleague and a real character – kind, professional and engagingly eccentric, in the best possible way.”
Roger leaves a wife, Ann, three sons - Matthew, Mark and William who is a Lieutenant Colonel in the Royal Regiment of Artillery - and six grandchildren.
His funeral service and internment at St Cuthbert’s Church begins at 2.30pm. All are welcome. Donations, if desired, to the Great North Air Ambulance Service. his Roger Bolam