Tributes to ex-editor David Kernek

Echo old boys: David Kernek (Flintham) second right with, from left, Peter Barron, ex-editor; Nick Herbert, former editorial director of Westminster Press; ex-editor Allan Prosser; Ted Young, now Metro editor; former deputy editor Chris Lloyd and me.

I was saddened to learn of the death of my former colleague David Kernek (formerly Flintham) this week. David was deputy editor of The Northern Echo in the early 80s when I was subbing and night-editing. He was always the calm head when things got heated (as they often did) and the best leader writer I ever worked with. He went on to edit the Bath Evening Chronicle, the Brighton Evening Argus, the Yorkshire Evening Press and then succeeded me at the Echo in 1993. I always enjoyed his company and his world-weary humour. The last time I saw him was when ex-Echo editors got together in London six years ago to mark the end of Peter Barron's tenure. David's story is a remarkable one - the son of an Austrian refugee who fled the holocaust. Read more here from Peter Barron and Allan Prosser.