A DEDICATED newspaper man with a love of jazz has passed away.

Tributes were last night paid to former Oxford Times editor Peter Sykes, who died on Monday aged 81 after a short illness.

A graduate of Oxford University’s Merton College, he began his working life in the city as a reporter on the Oxford Mail in 1956 and stayed with the company for almost 40 years.

Irene, his wife of 57 years with whom he had twins Christopher and Melanie and three grandchildren, said: “He was very generous to his family.

“I think he was a bit intolerant of fools. He didn’t suffer them gladly, but he was very kind and generous.”

She added: “He saw the strange side of life, he loved his humour. He didn’t dwell on the doom and gloom of life.”

A Yorkshireman by birth, Mr Sykes began life in journalism on the Huddersfield Examiner before moving south to Oxford in the mid-1950s.

Having been a news reporter and theatre critic at the Oxford Mail, Mr Sykes became the paper’s news editor and then moved across to edit the Oxford Times between 1988 and the mid-1990s.

His passion for music, and jazz in particular, was a constant in his life and the Sykes family “enjoyed many good holidays” on the back of royalties earned from his song It Will Soon Be Spring, his widow said.

He formed the Peter Sykes Big Band and played in a smaller ensemble called Edge, and later in life composed pieces for the National Youth Jazz Orchestra.

John Chipperfield, former assistant editor and news editor of the Oxford Mail, said: “Peter Sykes was a great influence in my career, supporting my application to become a trainee reporter in 1964.

“As a journalist, Peter was quiet, efficient and unflappable, and he taught me a great deal about how to run a busy newsroom – lessons which proved tremendously helpful when I became news editor in 1979.”

Derek Holmes, the last editor of the Oxford Times, said: “I was lucky enough to be interviewed by Peter Sykes back in 1990 and to be taken on as a reporter in Oxford.

“Peter was part of a generation of journalists that spent virtually the whole of their working lives at the Oxford Mail and the Oxford Times.

“There were plenty of talented characters around at that time, of whom Peter was one.”

His funeral will be held at Oxford Crematorium on Monday, September 26, at 11.15am. Family flowers only.

Former Oxford Mail editor Eddie Duller said: “Peter Sykes was meticulous in everything he did and the result was a thoughtfully edited newspaper that consistently won prestigious prizes within the newspaper industry for the quality of its news and features content and for visual impact.

“He always insisted that reports were accurate and fair and was a stickler for detail. His knowledge of the arts and music was extensive and under his editorship the coverage of the Oxford arts scene expanded, much to the delight of the readers of the Oxford Times.

“He was greatly respected by many journalists who worked as part of his team and who are now household names.”