Laurence Owen Vine Gandar (28 January 1915 – 15 November 1998) was a South African journalist and newspaper editor.
[1] When war broke out in 1939, he enlisted in the Union Defence Force and rose from the rank of corporal to captain, becoming the Brigade Intelligence Officer in the 6th South African Armoured Division in Italy.
In October 1957, he was offered the role of editor of the Rand Daily Mail, one of many English South African newspapers owned by Anglo American.
[1] He would change the editorial style of the newspaper to a liberal tone, which was in opposition to the views most white people, and would inform South Africans about the racial and human rights abuses of apartheid and challenged the ruling Afrikaner National Party government.
[1] His change in editorial style would have a negative effect on circulation in the mid-60s, falling to 112,000 from 125,000 readers and would continue until the papers demise in 1985.
[8] They would be charged with contravening South Africa's Prisons Act and would eventually appear in court in November 1968, before Justice P. M. Cillié, in a trial that last 88 days.
[5] Gandar was fined R100 on both charges or three months imprisonment and Pogrund received two three-month sentences suspended for three years and subject to him not contravening the Prison Act.
[14] Laurence Gandar died in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal South Africa on 15 November 1998 shortly after the death of his son, and after several years of illness, from Parkinson's disease.