Rowan Dore

Argus reporter Rowan Dore, 56, (on right of pic) was found dead at his Rottingdean home on Thursday. He joined the paper in the mid-90s after working for the Press Association in London, where he lost his job in one of PA’s purges of older journalists. He was always grateful to NUJ officials for the help he had at the time of his departure from PA.

Widower Rowan had four grown-up children – a son and three daughters. The branch – which he represented at three union annual conferences - would like to extend heartfelt condolences to the family on an irreplaceable loss that is keenly felt by every member who knew a kind and generous man. We have no news on when his funeral will be held.

**Adrian Colley adds: One of life’s lovely blokes, Rowan will be sorely missed by everyone who knew him.

And it seemed everybody DID know him. Having worked with him in Brighton on the Argus it appeared he was acquainted with half the city. When I went with him to the NUJ’s annual conference in Liverpool I wondered whether his contacts extended to half of Britain too. He seemed to know the whole world. And who wouldn’t have wanted to know him?

Rowan had the perfect journalistic gift of a bottomless curiosity and was always genuinely interested in what people had to say. He also loved making new friends. Despite having been a reporter for 30-plus years, he was never in danger of turning into the archetypal seen-it-all-before grizzled hack. Far from it. For him, every story was as fresh as a daisy. His was a cynicism-free take on the world – an enviable disposition and one that makes his death so much harder to bear.

An ego-free zone, sometimes you wondered if he was too agreeable. He was an old-style gent journo who loved to hear your tales and had an infinite fund of his own.

And he always remembered your stories – if he ever introduced you to a stranger he would always regale them with a tale about you, complete with flattering chuckles, that reflected you in the best possible light and make you appear one of the most fascinating people on the planet – a rare ability and one of the keys to his social success. He was impossible to dislike.

Rowan always came with a slight sense of the surreal. The brother of a singer-songwriter, who else but him would have been seen out and about Brighton and beyond with the Monty Python actress Carol Cleveland, a great friend? In his days as a Parliamentary reporter for PA he knew dozens of MPs and his love of the theatre saw him review many productions across Sussex.

I recall a night out with him last year. We met in Porto, Portugal, during the Euro 2004 football tournament for a long night. He was there with friends from Brighton – one the owner of a nightclub, the other I only ever knew as Fish. A long night ensued and a nightclub was sought for futher entertaininment. He had a few drinks and disappeared. After scouring the club for him, I finally tracked him down to the ladies loo. In Portuguese ‘Mulheres’ is the word for women and he’d mistaken the M on the door for ‘Men’ and he’d gone in there for, er, a rest. Luckily he was the sole resident at the time. I had to have a loud row with the bouncers, who weren't impressed to see two men hanging around the loos, before claiming him. We managed to swagger out at 6am to watch a glorious sun rise over the River Douro. The oldest swingers in town we may have been but Rowan had a youthful zest that put many half his age to shame and that was part of his charm.

There was no bad side to Rowan and I cannot recall ever hearing a waspish remark pass his lips – not something you can say about many in our profession. He represented all that was best about journalism.

I’ll remember his cherub’s face and twinkling eyes and his unfailing unfeigned delight at seeing you. Though I knew him for at most eight years, he was one of my closest friends. His life may have been cut short but I know for sure that it was full and rich. He was proud of his charming children, Chelsea winning the title and his unerring ability to dig up a story when the Argus needed a quick shot in the arm.

Many of us were reduced to tears by last week’s news. He was a wonderful, wonderful man and I’ll miss his chuckles.

**More pictures, from Jemima. These were taken at ADM, April 2005. Thanks to Dave Rotchelle.