My friend Lorry Leader, who has died from lung
cancer aged 67, was an administrator at the Guardian for nearly 20 years. She was a much-loved colleague and sympathetic ally to countless reporters and editors.
![Lorry Leader obituary](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/c672ea3db452afc093487b9c9abb7e71a7175916/0_62_1446_867/master/1446.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=6aabe957a53082a6d3d8f6aff691fe61)
She was born Sarah Loretta Leader in St Pancras, north
London, to Samuel Leader, a teacher, who had arrived in the
UK in 1913 from Poland, and his wife, Bertha (nee Schwarz), who came to
Britain from Vienna after the Anschluss in 1938.