Tributes to Advertiser employee who was liked across all departments

A FORMER long-serving Advertiser employee who played key roles in the newsroom has died aged 86.

Rex Payne, who was newsroom overseer of the Rotherham Advertiser and Rotherham Record, died on December 29.

Rex spent the majority of his working life at the Advertiser, where he was a senior linotype operator, as well as being the deputy overseer to Stan Ramsden for many years, taking over the reins upon Stan’s retirement in 1991.

Rex took charge of the production side of the newspapers during a turbulent period — the business was accelerating the change from the “hot metal” printing process which had been the norm for over 40 years, to the new photo-setting process which became the standard process throughout the industry, with the current digital methods emerging in the early 2000s.

The adoption of photosetting allowed more use of colour and led to the Advertiser outsourcing the printing of its titles, closing its printing press at Lyme Street in 1993.

Rex was charged with transferring the printing of the Advertiser and the Record from its home presses in Rotherham to Derby.

He retired from the Advertiser in May 1996, aged 61. He leaves his wife, Doreen.

Current operations director Jamie Ollivent said: “Rex was very much a prominent fixture at the Advertiser when I joined, he was well-respected and liked across all departments.

“He took over the news production department at a time of great change, but was always very approachable, very helpful and extremely hard-working.”

 

 

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