The former editor of The Times passes away

Charles Grech Orr, former editor of The Times who led the newspaper through its most turbulent period, passed away yesterday morning, aged 84.

He was a perfectionist and very loyal to the editorial policies

Mr Grech Orr was editor of The Times for 25 years during the post-independence transition and the attack on Strickland House in 1979.

Under his editorship, the newspaper kept up the tradition of never missing an issue when hit by industrial action in 1973 and when arsonists burned the building down six years later – a date which came to be known as ‘Black Monday’.

He will be remembered most especially for the courage he showed on that unforgettable October 15 when socialist thugs went on the rampage, burning down The Times building in Valletta before ransacking the Birkirkara home of then opposition leader Eddie Fenech Adami.

Interviewed by The Sunday Times on the 30th anniversary of Black Monday, Mr Grech Orr recalled that as he fled the building from the back entrance through St Ursula Street he was deeply upset to see bystanders laughing as the building went up in flames.

“His finest hour was when he edited the newspaper on the night the newspaper was razed to the ground on October 15, 1979,” former The Times editor Victor Aquilina said.

Mr Aquilina was among those who joined Mr Grech Orr at the Nationalist Party’s printing press, Independence Print, to ensure the newspaper would not miss an issue.

“As the flames were ravaging the press at St Paul Street in Valletta, we raced against time to tell the story as best we could,” Mr Aquilina said.

“Mr Grech Orr was a fine gentleman, sometimes perhaps too kind.”

Mr Aquilina and current The Times editor Ray Bugeja lauded Mr Grech Orr’s insistence for counter-checking information before passing it on for publication, and, equally important, of distinguishing fact from comment.

For former Allied Newspapers Ltd managing director Ronald Agius, Mr Grech Orr led by example.

“He was a very dedicated man and showed great courage. To think that on Black Monday he kept going... it was something you don’t find very often.

“The Times never missed an issue, whether when we were bombed or, under Mr Grech Orr’s editorship, when we were burnt down,” he said.

However, that was not Mr Grech Orr’s first brush with violent protests.

Former The Sunday Times editor Laurence Grech remembers how one fine day, Mr Grech Orr was working at his office when a rock suddenly crashed through the window and landed on his desk during a demonstration.

Mr Grech, who is the former editor’s cousin, said Mr Grech Orr was a cautious man with an upright character.

Allied Newspapers Ltd managing director Vincent Buhagiar reiterated that he was a “great gentleman”. “He was a perfectionist and very loyal to the editorial policies of the paper,” he added.

Mr Grech Orr joined Allied Newspapers in 1947 and worked for several years as a court reporter. He served as editor between 1965 and 1990.

He was made a Member of the National Order of Merit in 2005 and published his memoirs entitled In the Editor’s Chair (Progress Press) in the same year.

Mr Grech Orr, who was a legal procurator, passed away at Mater Dei Hospital and is survived by his wife Grace and their three children.

The funeral service will be held at Stella Maris Church in Sliema on Wednesday at 9.30 a.m.