Arnold Kemp, who died suddenly in Connemara on Monday aged 63, was among the most distinguished Scottish journalists of his generation. As deputy editor of the Scotsman and editor of the Glasgow Herald, he helped to transform his country's two quality newspapers and to set the new political agenda of devolution.
When he left the Herald after 13 years as editor in 1994, he joined the Observer, taking responsibility for, among other things, the paper's Irish edition. A Scottish patriot but no narrow nationalist, he had a generous vision of Scotland's future and looked to Ireland as a model of how a European perspective could influence a nation's changing identity. Charming, erudite and warmly gregarious, he had an unparalleled gift for inspiring younger journalists and creating an atmosphere of joyous creativity. It was a gift he used to maximum effect at the Herald, where he recruited some of the most talented journalists in Scotland and made the paper the country's biggest selling broadsheet.
Arnold Kemp was born in London in 1939 but moved to Scotland as a child and attended Edinburgh Academy and Edinburgh University. His father was the playwright, Ronald Kemp, who had worked as a journalist on the Manchester Guardian. At 20, Kemp joined the Scotsman as a sub-editor under Alistair Dunnett and eventually became the paper's deputy editor. During the 1970s, Kemp played a key role in the Scotsman's support for a devolved government for Scotland, a campaign that upset some of the paper's conservative readers but helped circulation to rise to record levels.
Disappointed by the defeat of the 1979 devolution referendum, he left the Scotsman two years later to become editor of the Herald. It was a paper that had endured hard times and a move downmarket had precipitated further falls in circulation.
Kemp set about transforming the paper, Britain's oldest national daily, into a lively forum for political and social debate. Instructing his journalists to "just be happy", he encouraged them to leave their computer screens and to spend more time meeting real people, preferably over a relaxed lunch.
Hugely prolific and energetic himself, he used his immense charm and good humour to motivate journalists to work harder than ever before and to take on challenges they had previously thought impossible.
His believed that the paper's mission was "to reveal to the powerless that which the powerful would prefer to keep secret". Under Kemp, the Herald embraced an outward-looking vision for Scotland that combined support for devolution with an interest in international affairs. Inspired by the example of The Irish Times, he opened a staff office in Brussels and engaged a number of correspondents around the world.
By the time he left the paper after 13 years, he had improved the paper's quality immeasurably and increased its circulation by 30,000 to 120,000. But Kemp's belief in investing in quality journalism met resistance from the Herald's commercial managers and he was sacked in 1994.
At the Observer, he edited the Scottish and Irish editions, wrote a column on Scottish affairs and became the paper's foreign news editor. His interest in Ireland was enhanced by his long-term relationship with Anne Simpson, a senior journalist on the Herald who comes from an Irish family. Together, they spent many summers in Lettermore, Co Galway, and Kemp became an astute analyst of Irish politics and society.
His writing on Ireland was informed by a deep knowledge of the country's history and an imaginative grasp of the country's potential within the European Union.
Arnold Kemp married Sandra Shand in 1963 but the marriage was dissolved. He is survived by two daughters of that marriage, Jackie and Susan, and his partner, Anne Simpson.
Arnold Kemp: born in London in 1939, died in Lettermore, Co Galway, September 9th, 2002.