FERGUS O'CALLAGHAN: Fergus O'Callaghan, who died on March 23rd aged 64, was a former editor of the Cork Examiner (now the Irish Examiner). Born at number one Greenmount Villas, on the southside of Cork City, on September 27th, 1937, he was the youngest son of James O'Callaghan, a plasterer, and and his wife Augusta (née McCarthy).
He was educated at Sullivan's Quay CBS and Cork School of Commerce. He joined the proof- reading department of the Cork Examiner in 1956 as a copy holder. He graduated to the editorial department as a junior sub-editor in 1958 and soon established himself as an all-rounder, capable of handling financial, local and overseas news as well as most sports.
Under the aegis of Patrick F. Dorgan, the editor of the day, Fergus O'Callaghan's talents continued to blossom and by the late 1960s he frequently acted as chief sub editor. He embraced this demanding task with quiet confidence and quickly showed himself to be a capable administrator as well as a first-class journalist.
Fergus O'Callaghan proved invaluable, utterly reliable in his judgment and totally dedicated to the Examiner. His expertise was all the more valuable during the change to new cold composition technology in May 1976, a difficult event which he handled with his usual aplomb.
By then he had frequently acted as deputy editor, bringing to this position too a sure-footed approach, and few were surprised when in November 1976 he was appointed editor.
It was a very popular as well as a commercially wise choice. Already, Fergus O'Callaghan was greatly liked by colleagues and public alike; nothing was now going to change. He remained humane, always approachable, quietly humorous and above all cool in crisis. Indeed his calm handling of difficult situations would have become legendary except that everybody took it for granted.
To the staff he may have been the boss, respected and obeyed, but he was also Fergus, Fergie or just simply Ferg. To the public at large he was the man who had as much time for the least as the greatest, ever ready to listen and to understand.
His editorship lasted 18 years - a long enough stretch even by Examiner standards - and encompassed difficult times for Cork, and for the publishing industry. It was also a period for some great news stories. Fergus O'Callaghan steered the editorial side of the Examiner through them all with measured confidence and in doing so made a huge contribution to the development of the morning paper.
Fergus O'Callaghan was particularly conscious of the fact that during the pressing local economic difficulties of the 1980s his paper was the voice which spoke for Cork and the surrounding area. However, his love of his native city did not blind Fergus O'Callaghan to the wider scene and before his retirement he was making prepartions for intensive editionalisation of the Examiner to enhance its coverage.
Such a long period of office does not always lead to total recognition of achievement; indeed it can tend to obscure it. Because of his unassuming character and length of tenure, Fergus O'Callaghan's editorship has been been described as "understated"; certainly it was not unremarkable and when he finally stepped down in 1994, he left to his successor and his readers a newspaper which had burgeoned under his control and was well placed to continue its expansion.
Fergus O'Callaghan was ever conscious of the need to maintain journalist standards and as a a judge of the National Media Awards he brought to his task a critical eye as well as the balance and fairness which characterised all his work. In recognition of his work on the judging panel he was given a valedictory award.
Fergus O'Callaghan will be remembered not so much for what he achieved as for what he was: a man full of warmth and human feeling, a quiet, unflappable man with a ready smile and a gentle, often wry, humour; yet a shrewd man, with a considerable understanding of and sympathy for the foibles of human nature.
Always interested in sport, he had in his youth been skilled in both hurling and football and his interest in his local Lough Rovers and St Finbarr's clubs never waned. He was also a good poker player.
On retirement, Fergus O'Callaghan was able to indulge his enthusiasm for golf. An ardent devotee, he had captained the Examiner Golfing Society and had undertaken a number of golfing trips abroad. Sadly, he was looking forward to another golf outing when his final deadline arrived.
Fergus O'Callaghan is survived by his wife Ita (née Crowley, whom he married in September 1961, daughter Mary, sons, Jim, Desmond, Fergus and Colin, brothers, Cormac and Jim, and sisters, Irene and Catherine.
• Fergus O'Callaghan: born 1937; died, March 2002