Sad news to hear that Councillor Stuart Dyer, Independent councillor for the West Wight, passed-away this morning at Southampton Hospital.
VentnorBlog has learned that Cllr Dyer was very recently diagnosed with bowel cancer, going in for emergency surgery over the weekend.
His wife, son and daughter and his brother were present, we understand.
“Will be sorely missed”
We’ve just spoken to Ian Stephens, group co-ordinator of the Independent councillors, who said, “We were very sad to hear about Stuart’s passing. He will be sorely missed by the officers and members of the Isle of Wight council.
“He was a staunch Independent and active councillor in his ward. Councillor Fuller and I will be covering the area in the interim.”
“A lovely character”
The sad news has been a great shock to fellow councillors, with most of them not even knowing that Stuart was going into hospital for surgery, after being diagnosed with bowel cancer.
Another councillor we spoke to said, “That’s dreadful. He was such a lovely character.”
Isle of Wight College
He was a qualified chef by trade, but his work on the Island was in adult education in the Hospitality department at the Isle of Wight College. He started as a Lecturer in food preparation, retiring in 2002 as Programme Manager for Hospitality Leisure & Tourism.
Our condolences go out to his family and his colleagues, the Independent councillors at County Hall.
