FM leads tributes to respected journalist
The First Minister led tributes to Fidelma Cook last night after the respected journalist died at 71.
She had worked for a number of Scottish newspapers but, since 2006, had written a popular column for The Herald charting her new life in France and, in recent years, her fight with cancer.
Her son Pierce Cookanderson said his mother, was admitted to hospital in Moissac on Friday and died in her sleep yesterday.
The journalist, who was born in Blackpool, had continued to file her column in the last weeks of her life and her inspiration and professionalism was hailed last night.
On Twitter, Nicola Sturgeon said: “So very sad to hear this. Fildema Cook inspired (and more than slightly intimidated!) me when I was a very young politician. In recent years, I have loved and admired her writing. She was a woman full of her heart and character.”
Women in Journalism Scotland also paid tribute saying Cook, who worked for the Daily Mail, Daily Record and Sunday Mail during an award-winning career, was a “role model for a generation of journalists. Indomitable, uncompromising and possessed of a pin-sharp intellect, Fidelma scythed her way through cant and hypocrisy to the very end.”