Former ITV News editor Geoff Hill has died following a four-year leukaemia battle – only nine months after getting married in a lockdown ceremony.
Tributes poured in to the 'giant in our industry' who died surrounded by his family after being admitted to hospital last week while receiving treatment for the disease.
Mr Hill, of Lee, South East London, married his fiancée Natalie in a quickly-arranged ceremony at the Clarendon Hotel in Blackheath last December with only 13 guests.
He was father to Emily, 20, Olivia, ten, and Alfie, nine - and spent nearly 30 years in journalism, working mostly for ITV, but also CNN, Setanta Sports and Channel 5.
Natalie said today: 'I'm sure many of you will join me and his family in being beyond devastated that he has left this world. For what a life he led, and what an impact he made.
Geoff Hill, of Lee, South East London, married his fiancée Natalie in a quickly-arranged ceremony at the Clarendon Hotel in Blackheath last December with only 13 guests present
Mr Hill spent nearly 30 years in journalism, working for ITV, CNN, Setanta and Channel 5
He was diagnosed with leukaemia in September 2017 and had 100 rounds of chemotherapy
'To some at ITN Geoff was a bit of a legend they knew little about, to others their greatest boss, to many their greatest colleague.'
They married on December 8 last year, having originally planned a large celebration at a hotel in Norfolk for July 2021 – before he suffered a relapse of the leukaemia.
They wanted a date before Christmas to ensure that his children who live in Australia could attend, and therefore had just six weeks to pull together their revised plan.
The 13 guests permitted under government restrictions were made up of close relatives, while dozens more watched the ceremony as a live-stream online.
After the ceremony, the couple returned home with their immediate family 'bubble' for a fish and chip supper, joined by others in the wedding party over Zoom.
Mr Hill meets the Queen at a Journalists' Charity reception at Stationers' Hall in London in 2014
Mr Hill with colleagues Alastair Stewart (left) and Trevor McDonald (right) in the ITV newsroom
Mr Hill is pictured with his friend and news anchor Mary Nightingale in the ITV newsroom
Mr Hill was diagnosed with leukaemia in September 2017 and underwent a stem cell transplant, 100 rounds of chemotherapy and 38 bone marrow biopsies.
He also had radiotherapy, took more than 6,000 pills, suffered a serious bout of sepsis in March 2019 which nearly killed him and was
