Eric Gordon on board the Tribune’s battle bus during our successful campaign to save the Whittington Hospital’s A&E department

SO many people have devoted blood, sweat and tears into the Islington Tribune over its 20 years but the paper would not be here if it hadn’t been for the vision of co-founder and long-serving editor Eric Gordon.

Wednesday was the second anniversary of his death, a moment of reflection for so many of his former colleagues and friends of the paper.

Maybe it was for some of his old adversaries too; those who had come to respect his dogged determination for our borough to have a challenging news source even if they were the ones being challenged.

Not just in Islington, but in neighbouring Camden where he had been among the co-founders of the award-winning Camden New Journal.

These two years since his death have flashed by and we push on with his wish that a good local newspaper is still needed to scrutinise the public authorities who make critical decisions on our behalf.

He had himself worked until his final days, almost addicted to the trade and never tired of hearing people’s stories.

The Tribune – which launched in 2003 – was a natural step after the success of the CNJ and people had often asked him to start a paper in Islington.

Inside the newsroom, he proved to be an inspirational mentor to a whole cast of journalists who either went on to work on national titles or are the Tribune’s collective custodians today.

Many of those reporters look back fondly on their time working with this smart but unusual tutor.

That’s not to say he couldn’t be a cantankerous man to work with, sometimes cartoonishly grumpy, even annoying.

But he refused to let our paper cut corners or join the race to the bottom being waged by neutered websites running reheated press releases and being guided purely by what will crack an internet search engine.

Our algorithm was learned on the streets, in council meetings, on estates and out there meeting people.

Eric would be shuddering at what has become of some famous titles in the world of local papers.

The idea at the New Journal and the Tribune was never to try and get rich or work to make profits for distant shareholders.

Instead, he championed the newspaper’s independence from the big conglomerates and, despite the thinnest of budgets, led a title which punched well above its weight, winning campaigns and exposing wrong-doing.

Time marches on, and the paper has had to adapt to the changing conditions.

But whatever route it takes, Eric’s gruff but avuncular voice still hangs over the office and what we do.

At the heart of a lifetime’s work, he had seen and shown how journalism could make things better for those struggling to be heard.

That’s a motivation which all who follow still hold dear.