Friends and family have paid tribute to an “icon” of the town and former editor of the Halstead Gazette.

Geoff Root, of Colchester Road, died at Halstead Hospital on Monday, aged 93.

Journalist Mr Root edited the Gazette for 33 years from 1952 to 1985, after joining the paper in 1946.

Lifelong friend, Jackie Pell, said Mr Root was “part and parcel” of the community in the 1950s and 60s.

She said: “Geoff was an icon. Everybody used to see him out and about on the street.

“The paper was a little one-man band and he reported fairly and accurately and he was always there.

“He was a real Halstead character and always had time for everybody.

“Geoff was a very genuine man and he would say it how he saw it.

“You grew up just knowing Geoff – when you live in a town like this, you take people like that for granted as just being there.

“He had a job to do and he used to enjoy talking to people.”

Mr Root was born in Castle Hedingham and continued to live in Colchester Road, Halstead, after his wife Janet died about 12 years ago.

He joined the Gazette after serving as a pilot with the RAF in Canada during the Second World War.

Previously a bank clerk in Clacton, his father, the Gazette’s proprietor, died during the war.

He was known to enjoy a lunch at the the White Hart or in Martin’s fish and chip shop.

Mr Root’s daughter, Judith, still lives in the town with his teenage grandaughter Lucy.

His son, David, lives in London with his other granddaughter, 17-month-old Phoebe.

David, who works for Channel 4, said: “He had a very good but quite individual sense of humour and he always had enthusiasm for the less conventional.

“He knew a lot about many different things and he effectively knew everything about Halstead, as well as everyone, including many things he couldn’t be persuaded to divulge, never mind to publish.

“He could be a man of few words but also often very sociable in the right circumstances.

"He was fiercely independent and stayed that way as long as his health permitted.

“He got a lot of pleasure from flying and gliding and he enjoyed travelling on trains, especially steam trains.

“And he loved walking the dog. He was a big fan of Canada, where he spent time during the Second World War, and he regularly visited his friends there.

“I remember fondly he and I travelling through the Rockies by train not too many years ago.”