No one disproved Hunter S Thompson’s infamous indictment of television more than Richard Morecroft.

Richard was the antithesis of Thompson’s denunciation of the TV business as “uglier than most things … a kind of cruel and shallow money trench through the heart of the journalism industry”.

Rather than ugly, Richard made the newsroom environment at Sydney’s ABC Gore Hill beautiful. Or as near to beautiful as such a den with such a remit could be. He gave it heart, soul and empathy. Made it interesting and fun. Inclusive. Newcomers – from nervous cadet reporters to production assistants and new co-hosts – would be taken aside for a warm welcome word over a hot cuppa. For a man at the top of the broadcast tree, hierarchy wasn’t in Richard’s vocabulary. Not off air anyway.

You know someone was born with natural empathy and generosity of spirit when the instinctive reaction from so many – including myself – when learning of his way-too-early death was to remember him as a gentle man and a gentleman.

The prime minister has called him beloved and a figure of absolute trust, and so he was. Friends and strangers alike have mentioned his dulcet tones, reassuring us in our lounge rooms like a virtual comfort blanket when the news was all conflicts and crises.

He’d had practice, of course, fronting the ABC kids’ program Behind the News before coming to national attention co-hosting The National with Geraldine Doogue, with chief reporters Max Walsh and Richard Carleton. A famous photograph of the 1984 ABC federal election coverage from Canberra’s national tally room features Richard Morecroft, Barrie Cassidy, Chris Clark, Jenny Magrath and pre-Antony Green guru, Dr Victor Prescott.

(L to R) Jenny Magrath, Dr Victor Prescott, Barrie Cassidy, Richard Morecroft and Chris Clark at the ABC desk at the national tally room on the evening of the 1984 federal election. Photograph: National Archives Australia

If Richard was among a rare breed of broadcasters who fronted nightly bulletins for nearly two decades (1983–2002), he was unique in another special way. Surely no other newsreader on the planet had rescued and raised a baby flying fox, which he sometimes kept wrapped in a hanky next to his warm heart while reading the news! It prompted a book and TV production called Raising Archie. Archie had been found clinging to his mum after she’d been electrocuted on power lines. Richard became the foster dad, washing and feeding Archie, changing his nappies and taking him to the post office to weigh. He even helped teach Archie to fly before releasing him into the wilderness.

Richard Morecroft with Archie, the orphaned baby flying fox he cared for. Photograph: ABC

Former ABC sports presenter Peter Wilkins, who sat next to Richard for years, describes him as self-effacing, the perfect person on set and unflappable. He certainly needed to be, given the antics of the studio crew pulling faces and practical jokes trying to put him off his lines. That was the camaraderie of a bygone era.

Richard’s memoir, 20 Years from the Waist Up, was typical of his intellectual self-deprecating humour. He wrote of wearing board shorts, bare feet and underwear under the desk and turning the word “rank” into “wank” on air.

He cared deeply for our world and environment. Richard wrote at least seven books, including tomes for children on animals and nature. Our family favourite is the gloriously illustrated and written Zoo Album he co-wrote with his wife, Alison Mackay. They kindly inscribed our copy for our children when it was launched in 2003. Our daughter Isabella was eight years old. It left a mark. She’s now a veterinary surgeon.