One of
the most popular and talented journalists to work on the Leeds-based
Yorkshire Evening Post, Mike Hurst, has died aged 43.
Hurst worked on the paper for 16 years covering a wide range of stories.
Always a cheerful colleague, Hurst joined the company from his native Sheffield where he studied journalism.
After working first for the Leeds Weekly News, he joined the news team on the Yorkshire Evening Post in 1986.
He
was a skilled interviewer and court reporter, specialising for a time
as the paper’s education reporter and also pioneered pages for children.
He
was also an active member of the National Union of Journalists, serving
as clerk to the Yorkshire Evening Post Chapel, helping the chapel
survive through years of de-recognition and emerge as a thriving and
successful unit.
Hurst, a keen cyclist, runner and walker, left
the Yorkshire Evening Post in 2002 and fulfilled a lifelong ambition to
walk one of Europe’s most challenging routes through the Pyrenees.
On his return he joined the news team at Yorkshire Television, leaving when he was diagnosed with cancer.
Hurst, who lived in Horsforth, died in Cookridge Hospital after a long illness throughout which he remained defiantly cheerful.
YEP Editor Neil Hodgkinson said: “Mike was a fine journalist and a wonderful family man.
“He will be badly missed by everyone who came into contact with him, his many friends and his family.”
He leaves a widow, Beverley, and two young daughters, Sophie and Amanda.
Tony Harney, Deputy News Editor, Yorkshire Evening Post
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