Vale: Max Walsh

Retired political correspondent Max Walsh, who featured on Nine, 10 and ABC, has died, aged 84.

He died on Wednesday morning after a long struggle with dementia.

Walsh held significant roles in both newspapers, including in business journalism, and television over five decades.

He began his career as a cadet with Sydney’s Daily Mirror in the late 1950s, becoming chief political correspondent of The Australian Financial Review in the late 1960s and early 1970s, before being appointed editor in 1974.

In 1981, he became a regular on Nine’s current affairs program, Sunday, hosted by Jim Waley.

He later had regular stints with the ABC, where he co-presented The Carleton-Walsh Report with Richard Carleton, and Channel 10, where he fronted The Walsh Report. He also served on the board of 10.

At the ABC he also established The Bottom Line business program with Maxine McKew.

There were also roles with The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, and the revived Bulletin as editor-in-chief until 2007.

Jennifer Byrne tweeted, “All hail and farewell to the great oak of Australian journalism, Max Walsh. A huge figure in mine as so many lives, as exemplar and mentor and friend. I’m glad he is free, but so sad we have lost him.”

Michelle Grattan described him as “a towering figure in journalism.”

MEAA said,’Vale Max Walsh – he was instrumental in raising the profile of Australian financial journalism including as editor-in-chief of the Australian Financial Review.’

Source: Australian Financial Review, Daily Telegraph