Cassandra Jardine: Telegraph Media Group statement It is with deep regret that The Daily Telegraph announces the death today, 29th May 2012, of Cassandra Jardine, our award-winning feature writer. She was 57. She had suffered from lung cancer, and wrote movingly in recent months about a battle she fought with dignity and tenacity. Cassandra worked for the Telegraph for more than twenty years. She started here in 1989, and came to be involved in all aspects of Telegraph life, forging a remarkable bond of trust with our readers. She was particularly instrumental in the success of our annual charity appeal. Tony Gallagher, Editor, The Daily Telegraph, said: "Cassandra was a peerless journalist: a brilliant interviewer, a formidable columnist and a superb all-round feature writer. She was a guiding influence on the annual Telegraph Christmas charity appeal and her tireless work was much appreciated by many of the little-known charities she championed. Because of her dedication, many small but valuable charities have been catapulted onto the national and international stage. Before her illness, she was well known for her prodigious work rate and her willingness to volunteer for any assignment. After her illness, and in the face of tremendous difficulty, she continued to report for work as often as she possibly could, determined to try and impose some normality on her life. She was recently recognised for her powerful writing on lung cancer, winning the 2011 Lung Cancer Journalism Award from the Global Lung Cancer Coalition by the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation, and the 2011 Excellence in Oncology award for cancer reporting. Our thoughts are with her family at this sad time.