Donald Trelford, former editor of the Observer and Bulletin columnist, died this morning after a long illness. He had been a regular contributor the Bulletin for many years.
Donald was born in November 1937 and was editor of The Observer newspaper from 1975 to 1993. He was also a director of The Observer from 1975 to 1993 and chief executive from 1992 to 1993. He was educated at Bablake School, Coventry, and Selwyn College, Cambridge.
In 1994, he was appointed professor of Journalism Studies at the University of Sheffield, and became a visiting professor in 2004 and emeritus professor in 2007.
Trelford was a member of the Council of the Advertising Standards Authority until 2008 and chairman of the London Press Club. He was also a member of the Newspaper Panel of the Competition Commission from 2001 to 2007.
He was a regular broadcaster and published books on snooker and cricket and co-authored (with Daniel King) a book on the 1993 Times World Chess Championship in London between Nigel Short and Garry Kasparov.
Trelford was interviewed by National Life Stories (C467/12) in 2007 for the 'Oral History of the British Press' collection held by the British Library.
He was educated at Bablake School, Coventry and was school captain from 1955 to 1956. He completed his degree at Selwyn College, Cambridge.