Former editor of The Oxford Times

He died aged 66 on Saturday from respiratory failure, following a lengthy battle against ill health. He had been receiving treatment at the Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford.

Mr McClure, who lived in Wallingford, first started working at the Oxford Mail in 1966, and retired as the paper's editor 37 years later.

The father-of-three started as a sub-editor and had the distinction of being the only editor in the history of the Oxford news operation to edit every single title.

Derek Holmes, the editor of The Oxford Times, added: "It's hard to sum up Jim McClure and do him justice. He was a great journalist, a great writer, photographer, artist and story-teller.

"As an editor, he was inspiring. What singled him out, though, was a genuine and compassionate interest in those who worked for him and with him.

"His presence enriched many lives at Newspaper House and his loss is felt very deeply."

Oxford Mail editor Simon O'Neill said: "Jim was a colossus in regional newspapers and in his adopted and much-loved county of Oxfordshire.

"I saw him for lunch not long before he went back into hospital for what turned out to be the last time.

"Although he had been in poor health, he still seemed as strong as an ox and his mind was razor sharp, as were his many anecdotes.

"I have lost a colleague and friend who I respected and admired enormously. My thoughts now are with his family."

Peter Unsworth, former assistant editor of the Oxford Mail, worked with Mr McClure for almost 20 years.

He said: "Jim was very passionate about the respect a paper should have. There was no compromise as far as standards were concerned.

"He was not the easiest man to work for because he was a perfectionist he would agonise for ages over a particular adjective, and would send photographers back to re-take pictures because of poor composition. They couldn't argue because he had seen it and done it.

"He was a bit of a gambler and left South Africa to come to this country without a job because he disagreed with the regime."

Stuart Earp, Oxford Mail sports editor from 1984 to 2004, added: "Working with Jim was never dull and his wealth of stories meant he was much in demand at dinner parties.

"He was a remarkable man, editor and friend, and the world will be a more boring place without him."

Andy Chatfield, deputy editor of the Oxford Mail, said: "He was a genuinely inspiring man.

"He could write, he could take pictures, he could do cartoons and he could design.

"He had all the qualities you need in newspapers a boundless curiosity, a classless humanity, a wicked sense of humour and a drive to do everything to the highest possible standard.

"But he was also approachable, self-effacing and hugely encouraging whenever he spotted a spark of talent in others. He was also very brave in the face of pain."

Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1939, Mr McClure first worked as a commercial photographer with Tom Sharpe, who later wrote a series of celebrated comic novels, and then as a teacher, before becoming a crime reporter and photographer for the Natal Witness in his hometown of Pietermaritzburg.

His journalistic career saw him headhunted first by the Natal Mercury and then by the Natal Daily News.

After the birth of his first son, he moved to Britain with his family in 1965, where he joined the Scottish Daily Mail as a sub-editor.

From there, he moved to the Oxford Mail and then to The Oxford Times.

His first crime novel,The Steam Pig, won the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger in 1971.

He then resigned as deputy editor of the paper in 1974 to write full-time and embark on his series of critically acclaimed detective novels set in South Africa.

The police novels, based on his experiences in South Africa, featured the detective partnership of Afrikaner Lieutenant Tromp Kramer and Zulu Detective Sergeant Mickey Zondi.

The award-winning novels were acknowledged by contemporaries, including Inspector Morse author Colin Dexter and Dick Francis, who both named characters after him in their books.

Mr McClure also wrote a spy novel set in Southern Africa Rogue Eagle which won the 1976 CWA Silver Dagger, a number of short stories, and two non-fiction works that won wide acclaim.

They were Spike Island: Portrait of a Police Division, set in Liverpool, which was published in 1980 and Copworld: Inside an American Police Force, based in San Diego, which was published in 1984. After publishing 12 books, he returned to The Oxford Times in 1986, as his police books had made him aware of how much he had missed working with others.

What proved his most popular Kramer and Zondi novel then followed, The Song Dog, but journalism soon became the priority.

He became editor of The Oxford Times in 1994 and three years later it won the first of a string of Weekly Newspaper of the Year awards.

He also edited the Herald Series, the Witney Gazette and the Bicester Advertiser.

He was made editor of the Oxford Mail in 2000, but was forced to retire a year early, for health reasons, three years later.

He planned to retire at 65 in 2004, but decided to bow out gracefully in December, 2003, after surviving a series of life-threatening conditions.

"I have been very fortunate over the years, in a number of different jobs, " he told The Oxford Times on his last day at Newspaper House.

"As a reporter I was shot at five times, and when I was working as an undertaker in Abingdon I had my nose broken by some toppling coffins."

Mr McClure added: "I spent six years working on two police books and during that time I realised I was temperamentally unsuited to being a writer in a garret and more than anything enjoyed the company of work colleagues and that is why I came back, and that more than anything is what I will miss."

He leaves a wife, Lorly, a nursing lecturer at Reading University, and three grown-up children in their thirties James, Alistair, and Kirsty.

The funeral takes place at St Mary's Church, Wallingford, at 2pm on Wednesday, July 5.

The family have asked for no flowers but welcome contributions to Amnesty International.