A WESTON journalist has died aged 84 following a long illness.
John Barber worked on the Bristol Evening Post from the mid-1950s to the early 1990s, reporting on the news from Weston and North Somerset.
While working on the paper, he covered the 1973 Swiss Air Crash, which killed 108 people, many returning from a day trip from Axbridge, Cheddar, Wrington and Congresbury.
He was also a television and film critic for the paper.
John and his late wife Joan lived in Weston and raised four daughters, out-lived by three of them.
His former colleague Quita Morgan said: “Friends and colleagues remember him as a gentle giant, quietly spoken, humorous and erudite about many subjects, especially film, music and natural history.
“Above all, he was a very caring family man, much loved by his daughters, five grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.”
He died on November 24, and funeral arrangements are to be announced.
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