Former ANSA editor-in-chief Sergio Lepri has died at the age of 102.
The Florence native headed Italy's top news agency from 1962 until 1990 and played a key role in the development of a whole generation of journalists, working with them side-by-side.
Widely considered a maestro of journalism, his cardinal principle was to always separate facts from opinions.
A philosophy graduate from Florence University, he entered the world of journalism in the winter of 1943-44 as editor of L' Opinione'', the outlawed newspaper of the Liberal party, during the Nazi occupation.
"Publishing and distributing a newspaper at that time entailed risking your life," Lepri said on his 100th birthday.
He described the Resistance as "a formative period for a part of my generation".
He then had a spell at Il Giornale del Mattino in Florence.
He was spokesman for ex-premier and Christian Democracy bigwig Amintore Fanfani before going on to join ANSA. The agency's current Editor-in-chief Luigi Contu was among the first to pay tribute to Lepri.
"When he hired me he said: I won't ask who you vote for, don't make me realise it through your writing," Contu said.
"That is the most important lesson for an ANSA journalist. Thank you".
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