Warm tributes paid to former Belfast Telegraph editor Roy Lilley

Roy Lilley steered the Tele through most of the Troubles – from 1974 to 1992 – and was editorial director until his retirement in 1998.

Following an IRA bomb at the paper’s office building in September 1976, which claimed the life of one staff member and injured others, Roy managed to get an edition out the next day with the defiant headline ‘Our Answer’.

Writing in Friday’s edition of the paper, Alf McCreey recalls his friend and colleague as an editor who “demanded high standards” but was always respected and greatly liked.

Robert Hugh Lilley was born in Belfast on December 4, 1938, and was educated at Larne Grammar School.

His first job in journalism was as a trainee reporter at the Larne Times before joining the Belfast Telegraph in 1959. He also spent two years in London as the Westminster lobby correspondent of Thomson Regional Newspapers.

Ed Curran, who was deputy editor to Roy for 14 years and later editor of the Belfast Telegraph, said: “I saw at first hand his courage and resilience in the darkest and most violent years of the Troubles.

"He read virtually every line of every edition, meticulously ensuring that the paper’s reporting of dangerous, divisive events was reflected in the highest standards of fair, unbiased journalism.

"He was held in the highest esteem within the UK and the Irish media industry, not least for his brave, unswerving pursuit of impartial, balanced journalism in a divided society.”

Jim Gracey, former group sports editor, described Roy as “the epitome of a gentleman”.

“Courteous, fair and with a duty of care towards his staff in the most difficult working conditions of the Troubles, he was also a courageous editor who somehow held the line of truth and decency, as the voice of the middle ground during the worst excesses of the 1970s,” he said.

Ben Lowry, the editor of the News Letter, said: "Roy Lilley was a huge figure in the newspaper industry in Northern Ireland. From the first time I recall reading the Belfast Telegraph in the 1970s until I was a student in the early 1990s he was at the helm of a paper that was one of the vital news outlets during the Troubles. He still had a role in the paper until shortly before I joined it in 2000. Roy's influence was immense and he will be much missed."

Senior News Letter journalist Billy Kennedy described Roy Lilley as a "giant" in Northern Ireland journalism during the extremely challenging years of the Troubles.

He said: "As a rival newspaper man working in the centre of Belfast, I had the pleasure of meeting Roy at a number of events over the period of our careers and found him to be a person of the highest integrity, totally professional and incisive in his handling of the stories of the day for his paper."

Roy is survived by his wife Georgina, his daughters Claire and Rozalind, his sons-in-law Giles and Nigel, and his grandchildren Abigail, Oliver and Lily.

A service of thanksgiving will be held at Abbey Presbyterian Church in Monkstown at 2pm on February 22.