Thomas Shaw, who was a partner in family insurance company Shaw & Sons until he was 81, died at Peterborough District Hospital on July 28 following an illness.

The grandfather of seven had lived with his wife, Audrey, in Longthorpe, Peterborough, before spending the final years of his life at Wentworth Croft nursing home in Bretton.

Last night his widow told The Evening Telegraph her husband, a committed Rotarian for nearly half a century, would be sadly missed by his family and his many friends.

Mrs Shaw (79), of Longthorpe Green, said: "We are a very close and loving family and Tom was very much a family man.

"His children and grandchildren all adored him. He was a quiet man but a man of real integrity and with old-fashioned values.

"He always had a busy social life and although he was out of the public scene for quite a long time before his death, he will be remembered because he cared so much about others."

Born in Huddersfield on July 21, 1913, Thomas Arthur Shaw moved to Peterborough with his parents as a teenager before leaving to join the merchant navy.

After three years at sea he began working for Shaw & Sons in Broadway, the firm his father had started years earlier by selling insurance from the back of his bicycle.

When World War Two broke out, the 27-year-old joined the RAF as a wireless operator, having been refused a position as an airman because of his age.

After serving in India and Burma, where he suffered two bouts of malaria and a near fatal attack of dengue fever, Mr Shaw returned to the family business in 1946.

Four years later he met Audrey, 16 years his junior, and the couple were engaged within a month. They married in 1951 and had four children, Robert, Jane, Julia and Andrew.

Mr Shaw was the first life member of Peterborough Swimming Club and was also involved with Playgoers Society and Peterborough's Chamber of Trade.

He also devoted some of his spare time to working with blind, deaf and disabled people and was a member of the Rotary Club of Peterborough for 48 years, winning the Paul Harris Fellowship for his long service.

He had been due to retire at the age of 80 but was persuaded by colleagues to stay for another year.

The earlier years of his retirement were spent visiting relatives around the world with his wife.

Mrs Shaw said: "It was a happy retirement but all too short because he had a nasty fall and needed a lot of care for the last eight years of his life."

Mr Shaw is also survived by grandchildren Gemma, Lucy, Sarah, Adam, Holly, Emily and his namesake Thomas, who was born earlier this year. The funeral is being held at St Botolph's Church in Longthorpe, Peterborough, at 2.15pm on Friday.