MANCHESTER — Ask anyone who knew Paul Lacaillade, and they'll tell you he had newsprint flowing through his veins instead of blood.

Lacaillade, a veteran of New Hampshire newspapers for over 50 years, including a half century at the Union Leader, died at his home in Manchester on Saturday.

He was 97.

“Paul was one of the finest men ever to work here,” said New Hampshire Union Leader and Sunday News publisher Joe McQuaid. “He was a talented editor, mentor and newsman.”

Lacaillade, who came to Laconia as an infant and lived out the rest of his life in the Granite State.

His byline first appeared in print while he was still a student at Laconia High School, covering school activities for the Laconia Citizen.

He would work as a reporter for the Laconia area for the Concord Monitor, before joining the Union Leader in its Manchester office in 1945.

After working as a reporter and photographer, he eventually moved to the copy desk, and served three years as night editor for the newspaper's city edition.

Over nearly 20 years of working as a member of the Union Leader's night staff, he also penned a weekly fishing and hunting column, as well as a ski column.

He retired in 1988 after 50 years with the state's newspaper.

“He was a triple threat,” said George Naum, a longtime Union Leader photographer. “He could handle any job in that newsroom. He would handle the switchboard, then jump over to the news desk, then edit. Whatever needed to get done, Paul would get it done. He was tough, but fair, and a great man to work for. He could be hard-nosed when it came to news, but he was always fair.

“He was the genuine character, a model for any newsroom movie,” wrote Don Anderson, a former Union Leader city editor and community relations manager, in an email about Lacaillade's passing. “The sharp pencil ... a morass of wrist-deep copy at his side, dressed with red lines and accent strikeouts. And those of us whom he nurtured and prodded to do better, always at the ready to write and re-write ... to this everlasting day I looked up to him, thankful for the guidance and infinite wisdom which ignited the passion to pursue a newspaper career that took me from his side (as a high school kid) to the 'other side' when I retired from the Union Leader in December of 2003. There are no more like him.”

Lacaillade was also very involved in his community, serving as a selectman and ward clerk in Ward 1. He was a former member of the Laconia Lodge of Elks 876, a member of the Manchester Press Club and the last surviving charter member of the Manchester Newspaper Guild.

He also served as a communicant at St. Raphael Church for more than 60 years.

He was predeceased by his wife of 53 years, Lorraine (Desrosiers) Lacaillade, who died in 1998 and a daughter, Mrs. Edward (Margaret) Jerlinski, who died in 2003.

Survivors include a daughter, Patricia Ziter of Manchester, six grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.