One of Scotland’s best-known journalists, Ken Gallacher, has died in hospital in Glasgow, aged 63.
Gallacher had been operated upon on 10 January and bowel cancer was diagnosed but he appeared to be making a good recovery.
However, complications set in and he died on 16 January 16.
Born in Dundee, his career as a sports writer began on the Dundee Courier and he subsequently worked on the Scottish Daily Record; was chief sports writer of the Scottish Sun; joined the short-lived Sunday Scot and then freelanced before joining The Herald as chief football writer for eight years.
He took early retirement 18 months ago.
A prolific writer of soccer books, he was also planning to write a book on jazz.
A dedicated, talented journalist with an awesome number of contacts and an ability for almost total recall, he was highly respected by the Scottish journalistic fraternity and the public at large – including most of the top names in British football.
A convivial man, he much enjoyed mixing pleasure with business and was something of a gourmet – partial to good food and fine wines although his favoured tipple was gin.
Herald colleague Ian Paul says: “There were very many strands to Ken’s talents, each in its way contrasting with the others.
“Aside from his family, Ken had real passions that consumed his energies throughout his life. Football, of course, was one, Dundee FC in particular, but there was also jazz –a subject on which he was a hugely respected expert, in the land of its birth just as much as on this side of the Atlantic.
“He was also a bibliophile with as voracious an appetite as has been my lot to have known. Typically his taste was universal, too, from novels to biographies, but with a decided leaning towards American literature.”
Gallacher was a past president and secretary of the Scottish Football Writers’ Association and a life member of the NUJ.
His funeral at Lenzie Old Parish Church was largely attended.
He is survived by his widow Moraig and daughters Judy, Jennifer and Jane.
Hamish Mackay
Hamish Mackay
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