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.
[4] Born in Cape Town, Union of South Africa, on 13 October 1926, Louw attended Parktown Boys' High School in Johannesburg.
[5] After completing his matric, he sat a railway exam and was accepted for an apprenticeship as a mechanical engineer but instead took a job as a copy holder at the Rand Daily Mail.
[7][6]: 17 In 1974 the board of the Mail attempted to remove him by asking him to chair a committee to implement an electronic editing project but refused.
[6]: 17 By 1975 he assisted in preventing the South African Associated Newspapers (SAAN) being purchased by government backed buyers which is successful, changed the editorial content of the group.
[7] He met his wife Jean Ramsay Byres, a sister of a colleague at the Rand Daily Mail and they married in 1949.
[6]: 17 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.