The founding editor of Computer Weekly Chris Hipwell has died aged 79.
Hipwell had a long career in magazine publishing with Reed Business Information, founding and editing Computer Weekly, the world's first weekly computer title in 1966. He died on New Year's Eve after a short illness.
He moved from editor to publisher of Computer Weekly in 1976 and was tasked with launching or acquiring other titles in the computer field.
As a publishing director for RB in the late 1970s he led the acquisitions of Systems International in 1978 and Practical Computing in 1979.
In 1981 he launched Your Computer magazine, a newsstand title for the home computer enthusiast, steering its growth over the next three years to an ABC circulation figure of nearly 160,000, making it Britain's biggest selling computer magazine.
In 1983 he launched Micro Business, a controlled-circulation magazine for computer dealers, followed by Computer Choice, a newsstand magazine for newcomers to home computing.
But Computer Weekly remained his first love, and even when he retired from Reed in 1992, he remained the title's consultant editor for several years afterwards.
Before he left Reed he calculated that the title had added over £30m to the group's profits since its launch in 1966.
Hipwell's career as a journalist and publisher was closely linked with the growth and development of the IT business, from its early origins in data processing through to personal computing, the internet, networked systems and modern obsession with gadgets.
John Lamb, who edited Computer Weekly in the 1980s, said: "Chris was an old school editor in the best possible sense: courteous, intelligent and really engaged with the industry but not afraid to speak out. He had a knack of explaining complex topics in plain English too, which has always been a vital skill in the jargon ridden computer business."
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