Mirror photographer Tom Buist has died at 84 after a career which started when, aged 14, a newspaper used his images of a fatal tram crash.
The Edinburgh native joined the Mirror in 1965 and his reputation swiftly grew after his coverage of the Troubles in Ireland earned him a World Press Awards nod.
Tom’s long-time colleague Stephen White said: “He was one of those photographers who when you were struggling with a story would show you his picture and it all came together.”
Tom started his career at the tender age of 14 when his photo of a fatal tram crash in his native Edinburgh was published in the local paper. He continued working well into his 70s, including assignments for the Newcastle Chronicle and Journal.
Tom joined the Scottish Daily Express as a dark room boy at 15 and learned his craft there, on the Glasgow Herald and the Daily Sketch before he joined the Daily Mirror in August, 1965. His early years saw him capture George Best in his heyday, cover Troubles in Ireland - where he was nominated for the World Press Awards - meet Prime Minister Harold Wilson and the late, great Muhammad Ali on a visit to the North East.
Tom moved to the North east in 1970 where he worked for the paper until 1988 on staff. He continued as a freelance for another 22 years before he retired in 2010. Tom covered the Lockerbie disaster with his son Iain, a photographer with the Chronicle and Journal.
Iain, 51, said: "It was my first ever job with him when I was just 17. My dad worked from the age of 15 with the Daily Express after he answered an advert for a 'dark room boy with a national newspaper'.
"He was still at school when he had his first news picture published in the Evening News in Edinburgh. He was only 14 but he took pictures of a tram accident because there were fatalities.
"Then he left school, landed his first job and worked for more than 50 years. He was still doing photos for the Chronicle when he was in his 70s.
"He was my hero, he did a book of photos for his children and he wrote a beautiful letter in mine and said how much he loved my work. He was so modest, I thought 'I wish that I could be half the photographer you were dad'."
His dad was a 'Labour man through and through'. Married for 42 years, Tom's late wife Sheila died aged 62 in 2005. He leaves their daughters Marcelle, 62, Lysette, 59, three grandchildren and two step grandchildren.
Tom’s son and Newcastle Chronicle photographer Iain, 51, said: “He was my hero. He was so modest.”
