Wyn Harness

Wyn Harness, who has died aged 47 from a brain tumor, was the consummate production journalist: unflappable, hard-working and blessed with an excellent eye for page design. Those skills were put to great use in a successful career at the Independent where, until his illness forced him to step down, he was one of only a few of the original staff still left at the paper.

Born in Lincoln shire to a farming family, it says much for his rare blend of Fenland pragmatism, urbanity and professionalism that he endured without complaint the Indy's changes of editor and design. A dark sense of humor also helped.

As the paper's chief sub editor, he played a key role in the Independent's transition from broadsheet to tabloid, working in his characteristically tireless and selfless way to get the job done. Under the editorship of Simon Kelner, he rose to be assistant editor.

Wyn arrived from the Brighton Argus before the Indy's launch in 1986, working on dummy editions and helping to argue against the plan of the co-founder and inaugural editor, Andreas Whittam Smith, to do without sub editors. Writers were to compose faultless prose to a specific length in a modular design. It was a fantasy that Wyn - blooded on the daily vicissitudes of local papers from the age of 18 - knew would never work. The idea was ditched.

That kind of pragmatism made Wyn a joy to work with and, as a young journalist starting my first shift on a national newspaper, I was grateful for his friendly, if slightly gruff, advice. The more you got to know him and the more he liked you, the less friendly that advice became.

Although lured by Fleet Street, Wyn loved his adopted home on the south coast and it was there that he met his wife, Sue Royal, also a journalist. They lived with their two children in Hove, where visitors were always welcome, usually with one of Wyn's familiar insults, but also with good conversation, good food and a good laugh.