Yesterday the author and journalist Sam de Brito, 46, was found dead in his North Bondi home. Police are not treating de Brito’s death as suspicious.

The editor-in-chief of The Sydney Morning Herald, Darren Goodsir, and editor-in-chief of The Age, Andrew Holden, issued a joint statement:

“Today is an enormously sad day for our newsrooms. Our sincere condolences go to the family and friends of our colleague, Sam de Brito, a regular columnist for the SMH and Sun Herald for close to a decade – and more recently for the Sunday Age newspaper. His death overnight comes as an enormous shock.

“With his authentic views, and raw, colourful take on life, he attracted a large online audience, drawn to his forthright commentary. He was certainly not one for political correctness, and had very broad interests – being equally able to match cheek and controversy with empathy. Sam was just at home with American sports as he was with popular culture, world affairs and politics.