Tributes have been pouring in for award-winning former Birmingham journalist James O’Brien, who has died at the age of 73.
James worked on the business desk of the Birmingham Post for several years as manufacturing editor before leaving in 2004 to run his own PR consultancy in Solihull.
Prior to joining the Post he had enjoyed a distinguished career as Midlands correspondent for the Daily Telegraph, after a previous stint for the paper in Manchester.
Mr O’Brien, who served for many years as a Newspaper Press Fund committee member, also worked in London and abroad for the Telegraph before becoming the newspaper’s staffer in the Midlands. He set up his own enterprise, Business in Writing and PR, in October 2004 and continued to write columns for the Birmingham Mail and Chamberlink, the magazine of Birmingham Chamber of Commerce.
Former Bristol-based Daily Telegraph staffer Paul Stokes, who worked with James, said: “He was a fantastic reporter and a great guy. He was always very urbane, very well turned out. He was determined and a consummate professional.”
Former Birmingham Post business editor John Duckers said: “Jim had a great work ethic and a distinguished career. He had a Northern sense of humour, which was as thick as gravy.He had a wonderful shorthand note and was a stickler for accuracy. He had a wealth of tales, a sparkle in his eye, a wide variety of interests and hidden depths.”
His funeral will take place at Harvington Hall RC Church, near Kidderminster, on Thursday at 1pm.
He leaves wife Joan, daughter Charlotte and son James.
