Tributes have flowed from leaders in politics, business and journalism for Max Walsh, the former editor-in-chief and chief political correspondent of The Australia Financial Review, who died on Wednesday morning, aged 84, after a long struggle against dementia.

Words such as “pioneer” and “first” and phrases like “the most influential editor” and someone who “changed the course of the nation” were among the comments made about Walsh, who was editor and editor-in-chief of the Financial Review from 1974-81. He was the paper’s chief political correspondent from 1966-74.