David Gow, former Guardian Germany correspondent, dies aged 80

Gow was briefly education editor at the Guardian before going to Bonn to cover one of the most momentous periods in Germany’s postwar history. Photograph: E Hamilton West/The Guardian

David Gow, a former Germany correspondent and European business editor of the Guardian whose strong commitment to social justice and to the EU project continued long after he left the paper, has died of a heart attack aged 80.

Gow joined the Scotsman as a graduate trainee in 1969 and became the paper’s first Europe correspondent, then labour correspondent and finally its London editor. After nearly 20 years there, Gow moved to the Guardian in 1989.