TRIBUTES have been paid to a former editor of the Reporter who has died aged 77.

Donald Fullarton, who died peacefully at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley on Tuesday, March 29, also spent more than 50 years taking Dumbarton FC matchday photographs at the club’s home and away fixtures.

He started working for the Reporter’s older sister title, the Helensburgh Advertiser, in August 1965, and later edited both papers before overseeing the output of a host of Clyde and Forth Press titles in Dunbartonshire, Renfrewshire and Ayrshire.

After he left the newspaper industry full-time in the late 1990s he taught news writing to hundreds of journalism students at Strathclyde University and Glasgow Caledonian University.

His Dumbarton FC action pictures were published in both the Reporter and the Advertiser for many years, and in 2008 he was appointed the club’s official photographer, a post from which he retired in July 2021.

A spokesperson for Dumbarton FC said: “A passionate supporter of his local senior club, Donald was also a director of the Sons Supporters Trust for many years.

“Donald was a magnificent and talented servant to Dumbarton FC, and his contribution to our media output over the years will never be forgotten.

“The thoughts of everybody at Dumbarton FC are with his family and friends at this sad time.”

Dumbarton and the Vale’s MSP, Jackie Baillie, added: “It is incredibly sad to hear of the passing of Donald Fullarton.

 “He was a true gentleman who was well known both in Helensburgh and at his beloved Dumbarton FC.

 “Donald played a key role within the local press across several decades and was well respected by journalists and politicians.

“Above all, Donald was a family man who will be most sorely missed by his children and wife, who have my sympathies at this sad time.”

Among those who paid their own tributes was BBC investigative reporter Sam Poling, who worked under Donald’s editorship in her early days in journalism.

She said: "It is such sad news. I have so much to be grateful to him for.

"He believed in me and gave me a chance when I needed it.

"These moments and acts of kindness come rarely. I am thinking of his family at this time."

Donald is survived by his wife Phyllis, by the couple’s children Campbell, Victoria and Claire, and by eight grandchildren. His funeral details have yet to be announced.