Former Guardian deputy editor and launch editor of the Comment is Free section of its website Georgina Henry has died of cancer aged 53.

She started her journalism career as a reporter on Broadcast magazine before joining the Guardian as media correspondent in 1989. She moved on to become deputy features editor under Alan Rusbridger and then became his senior deputy editor after he was made editor in 1995.

In Henry’s Guardian obituary, Rusbridger said: “I had come to rely deeply on Georgina's judgment, energy and directness.”