A memorial service for Cambridgeshire journalist and founding executive director of the Society of Editors, Bob Satchwell, is to be held at St Bride’s Church in Fleet Street on September 9 at 11.30 a.m.

Bob died aged 72 in March in hospital after developing pneumonia and Covid-19.

He had been unwell since suffering a severe stroke in 2017.

He had been chairman of the judges for the British Press Awards and the Northern Ireland Press and Broadcasting Awards, organiser of the Regional Press Awards, a director of the London Press Club and a former board member of the National Council for the Training of Journalists.

Bob Satchwell began his career as a reporter on the Lancashire Evening Post in 1970, went on to become assistant editor for the News of the World.

He was the award-winning editor of the Cambridge Evening News from 1984 to 1998.

During his tenure the Cambridge Evening News was one of the most successful regional newspapers in Britain.

He was executive director of the Society of Editors from its foundation in 1999 until his retirement due to ill health in 2017.

He was President of the Guild of Editors 1997-98, which became the Society of Editors in 1999.

The Society of Editors has members in national, regional and local newspapers, magazines, broadcasting and digital media, media law and journalism education.

It campaigns for media freedom, the wider right to freedom of expression, freedom of information and the public’s right to know and for the maintenance of high media standards.

He was also a member of the Editors’ Code Committee, which produces the newspaper and magazine industry’s Code of Practice that is policed by the Press Complaints Commission.

He helped revise the code after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.

Bob started his career with the Lancashire Evening Post in 1970 where he rose from graduate trainee to associate editor.

He was Journalist of the Year in the British Press Awards for 1977 and Crime Reporter of the Year in the same year.

Bob had two daughters and two stepsons. His wife Michele died suddenly in July 2013.