Obituary: Neal Travis

* Journalist and novelist. Died aged 62.

New York newspaperman Neal Travis - a brash, swashbuckling New Zealand import - has been hailed as one of the "most brilliant journalists and columnists" of our time.

The Dunedin high-school dropout, who died in his sleep after battling cancer for several months, had a career in newspapers spanning four decades.

His last job was as gossip columnist for the New York Post.

His writing won him legions of fans, including News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch.

Travis was one of Murdoch's most loyal employees, working for him for 22 years.

"Neal was a highly valued and longtime member of our News Corp family. He was also a dear friend." Murdoch was quoted as saying in the New York Post.

"His exceptional talents as an editor and journalist were key to our growth in the United States. Neal brought a high degree of professionalism and excitement to his work, capturing and celebrating the city that he loved so much. He will be sorely missed."

Fellow journalist Mark Day in an obituary in The Australian yesterday said Travis' death had sparked a torrent of adjectives. They included "pugnacious, witty, hard living, Gatsbyesque, rakish, foppish, cynical, brilliant and a legend.

"All are true," Day said.

Travis left school and landed his first newspaper job (as a tea boy) at age 16, on the Dunedin Evening Star.

Two years later, he moved to Australia to work as a shipping reporter for the Sydney Sun. Then it was off to Port Moresby, New Guinea, for a stint at the South Pacific Post.

There the reporter wound up covering golf. He admitted later that he knew virtually nothing about the game when he started.

Travis then returned to Australia to take a job with the Sydney Daily Mirror, the first Murdoch-owned paper for which he would work.

He came to New York as the Mirror's correspondent in 1966.

That was when Travis' reciprocal love affair with New Yorkers began.

It was a relationship that would last more than 35 years and win him friends in all the right places, ranging from former Governor Mario Cuomo to restaurant queen Elaine Kaufman.

Travis would move in and out of the city for several years at a time over the following decades.

He edited the weekly Truth in Melbourne and became editor-in-chief of the three Murdoch newspapers in Sydney - the Mirror, the Sunday Mirror and the Australian - before returning to the Big Apple to work in the New York bureau of Murdoch-owned papers.

When Murdoch acquired the New York Post in 1977, Travis became the first editor of Page Six.

Former Post publisher Ken Chandler recalled in the New York Times this week: "When Neal first pitched the idea of his column, the reaction was, 'Is there enough gossip to support another columnist?'

"In no time, Neal proved there was. He combined old-fashioned reporting, some commentary and an occasional dose of speculation to make his column indispensable. Even on a slow news day he was always entertaining."

According to Mark Day the column was to "revolutionise gossip reporting in a town gripped by gossip."

Travis moved on to edit New York magazine's Intelligencer column, then turned to fiction with his 1979 novel Manhattan which was based on many of his New York experiences

Other novels by Travis include Castles, Palaces, Mansions and Wings.

During the 1980s he travelled widely and lived at various times in Bermuda, Hong Kong and Vanuatu.

He served briefly as editor of California magazine and started a sports newspaper, the Wizard, in Australia.

He made his debut in television as a producer for the syndicated show Hard Copy.

He returned to New York Post in 1993 to begin his column "Neal Travis' New York".

That is where he stayed until his death. His last column ran on July 29.

He said of the cancer: "It's fairly simple.

"You either live six months or three years, or perhaps you recover permanently. I'll either be dead or I'll be doing my column."

Travis is survived by his wife, Tolly, and her three children.