'Firm, fair, and forgiving': tributes for celebrated editor, wine writer

Mr Lewis, whose media career spanned seven decades, was married to Ruth for 57 years. He had two sons, Guy and Tim, as well as five grandchildren.

"He was a man of the utmost integrity and perspicacity; John was thoughtful, generous and profoundly kind," daughter-in-law Amanda Moore told the Herald.

"We are so proud to have known and grown from our deeply cherished and much adored father, grandfather and father-in-law. Though the loss is immense, John lives on through the strong values of truth, civic duty and humanity (like any good journalist) he has rooted within his family. And of course, our inheritance of his love for a good drop of red.

Born in Newcastle in 1933, Mr Lewis began his journalism career at the Armidale Express.

It was followed by a stint at the Daily Advertiser in Wagga Wagga before he moved back to Newcastle to join the afternoon tabloid Sun.

He worked his way up to deputy editor before switching in 1979 to the then broadsheet Herald, where he began as business writer and retired as editor-in-chief in 1993.

He was awarded Australian journalism's highest honour, the Gold Walkley, in 1981 for his reporting on the battle for control of Newcastle TV station NBN.

He was the first regional journalist to receive the award.

ACM editorial director and former Herald editor Rod Quinn described Mr Lewis as a master of his craft who mentored and influenced generations of journalists.

"Newcastle Herald readers will remember him best for his discerning palate and 47 years of wine writing, but I will always remember him as my first editor," Mr Quinn said.

"John was a leader who held his journalists to the highest standards. As an early adopter of the yellow sticky note, he was legendary for the comments he would leave on clippings in reporters' pigeonholes, pointing out where they had done well, or where they could improve. He was firm, fair, and forgiving, particularly of reporters who still had their training wheels on.

"Above all, John was an old-school editor who would back an idea or a story, even if he knew it would cause him some sleepless nights. Nearly 40 years ago, he took a chance on a kid from Maitland and hired me as a first-year cadet. I still apply what he taught me, and I consider him to be one of the finest editors I have known."

It was during his time at the Sun that Mr Lewis began a weekly column, 'Trencherman', dedicated to wine and food in Newcastle and the Hunter.

The column, which continued for the next 47 years, is believed to be the longest of its kind in Australia.

In more recent years, Mr Lewis's weekly column appeared in the midweek food pages of the Newcastle Herald. He also reviewed five wines a week in the Wednesday Herald and Saturday Weekender.

"My approach has always been you give your readers your opinion, and the proviso is, it's my opinion, and you have every right to disagree and come to different conclusions. Wine is agriculture, but it is also art, high art," Mr Lewis told the Herald in 2023.

He finally hung up his quill to coincide with his 90th birthday that year.

Mr Lewis's extraordinary contribution to the Hunter wine industry was recognised with the unveiling of the John Lewis Newcastle Herald Trophy for museum red at the 2023 Hunter Valley Wine Show.

"A lot of wine writers will try and force their opinion on you, but John was more interested in how you got to the wine in the glass," Chris Tyrrell from Tyrrell's Wines said on Thursday.

"He always wanted to learn, and he always wanted to listen. He was a brilliant conversationalist."

"Every year we would make sure John was on our table at the Hunter Valley Wine Show because we loved spending time with him. He was a true gentleman."