Veteran local journalist Jim McKey died at the weekend at the age of 76.

Mr McKey held many posts at The Royal Gazette, including chief sub-editor and foreign editor, and was considered one of the Island’s top political and business writers.

He later moved over to the Bermuda Broadcasting Company, where he worked as news director until his retirement in 2003.

Tim Hodgson, editorial consultant at The Royal Gazette, said: “I had the pleasure and the privilege of knowing and working with Jim McKey for a number of years when he was at The Royal Gazette in the 1980s.

“As a business and political reporter, he was unrivalled: he had a deep grasp of Bermuda’s financial, economic and public policy issues and he brought a breadth of knowledge and a sense of proportion to these matters which was — and is — rare in local journalism.

“As the newspaper’s chief sub-editor, with overall responsibility for the layout, story placement and headlines, he was punctilious and always professional.

“Jim was an old-school journalist in the best possible sense. He believed journalism was best served when reporters were out in the field with their notebooks and pens at the ready, not sitting behind desks rewriting press releases.

“Both as a reporter and as chief sub-editor he was always encouraging and supportive of young Bermudian journalists. He could certainly be demanding and maintained a fastidious approach to fact checking, proofing and sub-editing.

“When you failed to meet his expectations, he had no problem telling you so in language which was sometimes unusually peppery, even by the standards of a newsroom. But he was never unkind or unfair.

“He was insistent on the newspaper maintaining a high level of professionalism — and equally insistent that the staff always approach their work in a responsible and professional manner.”

Former Royal Gazette assistant editor Gavin Shorto said he had always had a great deal of respect for Mr McKey, describing him as modest and talented. “He never boasted, never tooted his own trumpet,” he said. “He just seemed to want to be able to do his job in peace, but because he was so smart and so good at his job, working with Jim was a great pleasure.”

Mr Shorto noted that Mr McKey had initially trained to be a silversmith in Boston, but chose to try his hand at journalism after returning to the Island.

“It was a good choice — he was naturally talented,” he said.

“An all-rounder who would have been valued on the staff of almost any newspaper in the world. He was one of a generation of journalists which is almost dead in Bermuda, and is rapidly dying out elsewhere. He was well educated and sophisticated, able to understand the ways of the world with ease.

“As a journalist, he wrote exceptionally well, and his great talent was his superb news judgment. I remember particularly his love of words, something we had in common.”

Rick Richardson, CEO of Bermuda Broadcasting Company, said he was “very sad to hear of the passing of our colleague Jim”.

“Jim was the consummate newsman who mastered his craft over several decades,” he added. “He was one of the best writers we’ve seen, primarily because he met the demands of the print media before joining the ZBM team and adapting to the shorter form of writing for broadcast.

“He could handle any story and anchored our political coverage for many years. In our early days on the job he taught many of us. Later in his career he was humble enough to work under his pupils. Jim was also just a great guy. We will miss him.”