View all newsletters
Sign up for our free email newsletters

Fighting for quality news media in the digital age.

  1. News
June 12, 2017

Ralph Slater: Former newsdesk stalwart of pioneering Herts daily has died suddenly

By Press Gazette

A newsdesk stalwart described as one of the Welsh ‘tafia’ who helped launch a pioneering evening newspaper in the 1960s has died suddenly.

Ralph Slater, who was in his 70s, was a key member of a four-strong team transferred from the South Wales Echo and Western Mail to launch the Thomson Organisation’s award-winning Evening Echo and Evening Post at Hemel Hempstead in 1967.

Under Echo editor Ivor Lewis, they helped win a string of national awards as the papers emerged as trailblazers in the age of web offset printing and computerised typesetting.

Ralph was deputy news editor under the late Bryan Stiles, a fellow Welshman who later went on to become a sub-editor on The Times.

The ‘tafia’ also included the late David Francis, who was deputy editor, and Dudley Stevens, who was news editor before moving to London.

John Tylee, who also worked on the Echo news desk before moving to TRN’s London HQ, and then to Campaign, where he was associate editor, said: “When I joined the Evening Echo at Hemel Hempstead the paper was barely out of its nappies and I was a 21-year-old barely through my weekly paper training and nervously stepping into the much faster-moving world of evening newspapers.

“As the then deputy news editor, Ralph did so much to make that transition as smooth as possible. I always admired the skill with which he ran the newsdesk, his quick-thinking and the jokes that helped keep everybody calm and coping under pressure.

Content from our partners
MHP Group's 30 To Watch awards for young journalists open for entries
How PA Media is helping newspapers make the digital transition
Publishing on the open web is broken, how generative AI could help fix it

“And you usually knew the balloon was going up when Ralph looked up as you stepped through the newsroom door first thing in the morning and were told: ‘Don’t take your coat off.’”

When the then merged Evening Post-Echo closed in 1983, Ralph remained in Hertfordshire as a weekly editor.

In retirement, he and his wife Diane spent part of the year in Mauritius. She said he died suddenly after they had spent an enjoyable day out in London.

Ralph’s funeral will be at 2.20pm on Friday, 16 June, 2017, at Worthing Crematorium, Horsham Road, Findon, West Sussex BN14 0RG.

Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog

Select and enter your email address Weekly insight into the big strategic issues affecting the future of the news industry. Essential reading for media leaders every Thursday. Your morning brew of news about the world of news from Press Gazette and elsewhere in the media. Sent at around 10am UK time. Our weekly does of strategic insight about the future of news media aimed at US readers. A fortnightly update from the front-line of news and advertising. Aimed at marketers and those involved in the advertising industry.
  • Business owner/co-owner
  • CEO
  • COO
  • CFO
  • CTO
  • Chairperson
  • Non-Exec Director
  • Other C-Suite
  • Managing Director
  • President/Partner
  • Senior Executive/SVP or Corporate VP or equivalent
  • Director or equivalent
  • Group or Senior Manager
  • Head of Department/Function
  • Manager
  • Non-manager
  • Retired
  • Other
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
Thank you

Thanks for subscribing.

Websites in our network