Memorial: Donald Trelford

A service of thanksgiving for the life of journalist and campaigning newspaper editor Donald Trelford will take place at St Bride’s Church, the Journalists’ Church, on Thursday 16th May at 11:30am.

Trelford was editor of the Observer between 1975 and 1993. After a stint on the Sheffield Telegraph in the early 1960s, Trelford was appointed editor of the Times of Malawi, where he remained for three years.

Returning to London in 1966, he was in turn deputy news editor and deputy editor prior to taking the editor’s chair at the Observer at a time when the newspaper’s future was very much in doubt.

Trelford left the Observer after it was sold to the Guardian in 1993 and became head of journalism studies at Sheffield University before completing a number of books, mainly on sport, in his retirement. He was both Chair then President of the London Press Club.

Obituaries

• The Observer
• The Telegraph
• The Times