'A true Guardian legend': John Vidal dies aged 74

John Vidal, the Guardian's former environment editor, has died aged 74. He died peacefully on Thursday in hospital, where he was being treated for cancer.

- Damian Carrington

Vidal reported on the environment for the Guardian for almost three decades until retiring in 2017, calling it "the greatest job on Earth". Afterwards, he continued to report from around the world with his trademark energy and enthusiasm and published a book, Fevered Planet: How Diseases Emerge When We Harm Nature, in June this year.

Tributes to Vidal remembered his pioneering environmental journalism and highlight his passion for social justice, the underdog and putting people at the centre of his stories.

Katharine Viner, the editor-in-chief of the Guardian, said: "John was a passionate, warm, kind, unforgettable man and brilliant journalist - a one-off and a true Guardian legend. His commitment to covering the climate and nature crisis was clear in his gripping and important reporting, rich with humanity - and he got there before anyone else. He was much loved by his colleagues, and we will miss him deeply."

Sir Jonathon Porritt, one of Britain's earliest and best known environmentalists, said: "I've never known any journalist who so effectively combined uncompromising integrity, understated courage, mischief, irreverence and hard-hitting, compassionate eloquence in all his writing. He was just a wonderful friend and true champion for the environment."

Paul Webster, the editor of the Observer, said: "John provided vivid and vital journalism and wrote beautifully and passionately about the environment, pioneering coverage of issues that are now central to public life. He was an indefatigable reporter and a warm, witty and generous colleague who was much loved by his fellow journalists."