The late Mr O'Flaherty has been deeply missed by family, friends, colleagues and the community since he passed suddenly on April 13 last year.

He is survived by his wife Adrienne, twin daughters Toni and Liv and the communities he changed through his crusading journalism and the everyday lives he narrated.

"He is remembered as gentle, clever and unassuming man, with a wry wit who loved his family," Liv O'Flaherty said.

Journalists he mentored said he was driven by a sense of duty to people, in whichever community he lived.

"His legacy lives on in the lives of his loved ones and the journalists he inspired with his unwavering pursuit for the truth," Toni O'Flaherty said.

Brian's wife of 27 years, Adrienne O'Flaherty said he is deeply missed but would "always be in our hearts and in our minds".

A friend and former colleague, Don Baker said if there was a lasting vision of 'Bof' to hold, it's of how much joy he could extract from a moment

"How he would laugh almost silently, shoulders heaving and tears rolling down his cheeks," he said.

As a passionate newsman and talented editor in South Africa, Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Australia, he lived an exhilarating life filled with tales of bringing about justice.

"There were the years when you couldn't say a thing. You came and went like a ghost, in silence, carrying secrets in bags for the men whose investigative work - and your own - would bring down a government," A close and former Rand Daily Mail colleague Paul Bell said.

The industry rarely produces people like Brian anymore - he is remembered for inspiring young journalists to seek the truth, call power to account and support justice for ordinary people.

Brian was more than a good man, a funny man, a clever or an honourable man. He was a great man.