Witnessing cutback after cutback in the weekly newspaper industry left him angry and frustrated. In early August, this veteran union


man was railing against management once again, as he announced another retirement.


He posted on Facebook that his freelance efforts with his beloved Portadown paper had come to an end, stating: “I haven’t been feeling well for the past few weeks and that – allied to the savage cuts in the papers – has made me think deeply. “Of course, the staff who remain are doing all they possibly can, but the odds are stacked high against everyone.” He talked of writing a book but, just


Victor Gordon


Victor Gordon, NUJ stalwart and one of Northern Ireland’s best known weekly newspaper journalists, died just short of his 76th birthday and only two weeks after a cancer diagnosis. Victor had been a reporter for the Portadown Times, a weekly newspaper in Co Armagh, since 1970. He was a long-serving union activist


and FoC, representing NUJ members across many weekly newspapers in Northern Ireland. He never shied away from challenging management. He took the same diligent approach to his journalism, winning five awards as the province’s top weekly newspaper reporter. Many tributes have been paid


following his death by former colleagues and by figures right across the political spectrum – from the DUP and the Orange Order to Sinn Fein and the SDLP. He won that respect through


integrity and even-handedness – certainly not by going easy on anyone. He was the archetypal old school


hack with no formal training. He never worried about who he annoyed in pursuit of a good story, but also played it straight and fair. Portadown was often a tough beat in the Troubles, a town scarred by violence and division. There were attempts at retirement in


recent years, but he became a prolific freelancer, contributing regularly to daily newspapers as well as the Portadown Times.


24 | theJournalist


a month on from that Facebook post, he was dead. His passing made front page news in the daily papers and well-known faces from the worlds of journalism and politics attended his funeral in his home town. In the interests of full disclosure, I should add that Victor was my uncle. He helped me get my first job as a reporter and kept a watchful eye over my career ever since. Like a great many others, I was very fortunate to have him as a role model and mentor.


David Gordon Andy Needham


Andy Needham, who died unexpectedly at the Aga Khan University Hospital in Nairobi in August, was one of the most dynamic spokespersons for the UNHCR. Aged 44, he was well known from his days as a young NUJ activist in his native Dublin. He was a former chair of Dublin P&PR branch


and had served as a member of the Irish executive council. He worked as editor of Garda Review and in the PR sector before joining the UNHCR in 2008. He was deployed with UNHCR Kenya and, in 2010, joined the small Somalia operation. Andy subsequently served at UNHCR head office in Geneva and brought to his role direct experience of work in a range of countries including Ethiopia and in the Zaatari and Azraq refugee camps in Jordan. Living in Kenya, he travelled extensively and was spokesperson for the UNHCR in Iraq at the time of his death. UNHCR colleagues recall not only Andy’s passion


but his sense of fun and irreverence. These are qualities that ADM delegates also remember. Many still recall his support at ADM 1998 for striking Ryanair baggage handlers, expressed while wearing a Mickey Mouse mask to reflect disdain for “staff associations” and the anti-union stance of Michael O’Leary. In any conversations with Andy, his wife Tabitha and daughter Chessie featured prominently and he loved returning from UNHCR missions to be with them. He is also survived by his mother, brother Markus, and sisters Rita, Jutta and Karen.


Séamus Dooley


UNHCR


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