Raymond Louw

Raymond Louw (13 October 1926 – 5 June 2019) was a South African journalist, editor, and media commentator in South Africa. He was an editor of the influential Rand Daily Mail and received numerous awards and accolades for his services to journalism and media freedom in South Africa. In 2011, he was named a World Press Freedom Hero by the Vienna-based International Press Institute. The award cited his "commitment to press freedom and his outspoken defence of journalists’ rights".

Early life Born in Cape Town, Union of South Africa, on 13 October 1926, Louw attended Parktown Boys' High School in Johannesburg. He headed the Media Defence Trust, an organisation created to assist journalists censored or imprisoned.

Honours He received an honorary doctorate of literature from Rhodes University in 2012 and the same honour from the University of Witwatersrand in 2015. Awards included the Pringle Medal for services to journalism from the SA Society of Journalists. In 2021, he was bestowed in the Gold Order of Ikhamanga posthumously "For his enormous contribution to the field of journalism, and using the pen as his weapon to expose lies and shine the light on the atrocities of apartheid."

Death He died on 5 June 2019 at the age of 92 of a heart attack after recovering from an operation for a kidney infection. His wife Jean died the day before, following an operation after breaking her hip in a fall a week earlier. He is survived by daughter Fiona Ramsay and son Derek Louw.