The founder of The Independent newspaper, Sir Andreas Whittam Smith, has died aged 88, his family announced.
The Daily Telegraph financial journalist oversaw the publication’s birth in 1986 with colleagues Stephen Glover and Matthew Symonds.
It was the first paper not to have a permanent allegiance to a political party – “a thrilling moment in the history of Fleet Street”, according to the BBC’s Amol Rajan, who served as editor of the paper starting in 2013.
In a tribute to the man who he described as “a radical and a pioneer”, Rajan wrote that Sir Andreas had “profoundly transformed British journalism for the better, and forever.”
A family spokesperson announced Sir Andreas’s death on 29 November, saying that he was “surrounded by family until the end” and that he would be “dearly missed”.
He is survived by his wife, two children and three grandsons.
Sir Andreas worked at a range of British papers including the Financial Times, The Guardian and The Daily Telegraph before founding The Independent.
The paper was “the zeitgeist of print”, Rajan said in his tribute, and “embodied Thatcher’s Britain – though not her politics”.
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He recalled an advertising campaign with the slogan: “The Independent. It is. Are you?”. The paper said it was “of no party or faction” and boasted “a tinge of republicanism”.
Religion played an important role in Sir Andreas’s life. He served as First Estates Church Commissioner from 2002 to 2017, in charge of the committee that oversees the Church of England’s multi-billion pound investment portfolio.
The Independent notes that he was seen as a “saintly” and “ecclesiastical” figure on Fleet Street.
He was also formerly the President of the British Board of Film Classification, requiring him to approve and rate films for release, including approving a remake of Lolita.
Sir Andreas told the BBC in 2002 how he had been described as an “urbane liberal” by the Daily Mail for this controversial move “and I was so pleased with the ‘urbane’.”
“That’s the only thing I can set against the wretched bishop image.”
He was made a Commander of the British Empire in 2002 and knighted in 2015 for his public service, “particularly to the Church of England”.
