It has seemed from Eric Avebury’s blog recently that he has been nearing the end of his life. His openness over the past few years in speaking about his terminal Leukaemia in the years since it was first diagnosed has been so helpful to many.

His family announced earlier that Eric died this morning. The sympathy of everyone at LDV goes to his wife Lindsay and his family.

Until December, he had attended the House of Lords every day that it had sat, bar a few days in June last year:

With the exception of a few days missed in June last year, due to ill health, Eric attended the House of Lords on every day that it sat.  However, he last attended in December, before his illness overcame him.  He died of acute myeloid leukaemia on Sunday February 14, at his home in London.

That’s pretty impressive for an 87 year old.

Eric was a lovely, kind man who went out of his way to fight for those who were oppressed across the world. He fought for LGBT rights, against caste discrimination and for human rights and social justice. He wrote often for LDV and was always unfailingly kind and wise. You can read all his posts here.

Tim Farron: “a true champion of the liberal cause”

Tim Farron paid warm tribute to him:

Eric Avebury will be sorely missed by his friends and colleagues. He was a true Liberal who will be remembered as much for his unyielding commitment to fighting for Liberal causes as his sensational by-election victory in Orpington in 1962.

He campaigned to lower the voting age, founded the Parliamentary Human Rights Group and fought for the rights of refugees and asylum seekers, taking up the cases of hundreds of individuals fleeing persecution.

He was a committed internationalist, regularly promoting human rights around the world. He was a strong supporter of citizenship rights for British minorities in Hong Kong and campaigned against the persecution of religious minorities across many countries.

It was a personal honour for me to speak at the 50th anniversary of his by-election victory at the National Liberal Club.

The Liberal Democrats have lost a great campaigner, a great friend and a true champion of the Liberal cause.

We will update this post with other tributes to him and in the next few days will re-publish what he wrote for us.

Tributes from the Lords

His Lords colleagues have been paying tribute to him:

RIP Eric Avebury much loved and admired – helped him use Connect for gen elec – never stopped fighting/campaigning for others

— Olly Grender (@OllyGrender) February 14, 2016

So sad to hear my dear friend & colleague Lord Eric Avebury has died.He was a man who showed true humanity to others & cared about injustice

— Floella Benjamin (@FloellaBenjamin) February 14, 2016

Eric Avebury was a noble brave great fighter for justice

Great tribute to our friend & giant towering figure: Liberal Democrat peer Lord Avebury dies aged 87 https://t.co/ebcI83Tth1

— Baroness Hussein-Ece (@meralhece) February 14, 2016

— Anthony Lester (@Odysseus_Trust) February 14, 2016

And other party figures also mourn him.

Sad news of the death of Eric Avebury, a true friend and supporter to Montgomeryshire Liberal Democrats.

— Jane Dodds (@DoddsJane) February 14, 2016

National Secular Society honours “human rights champion”

Eric worked very closely with the National Secular Society for many years. They have put a lovely obituary on their site, with their Executive Director Keith Porteous Wood, a long time friend of Eric’s saying:

He was so charming and knowledgeable, working with him – as we did for well over ten years – was such a pleasure. He certainly helped the NSS hugely and I got the impression he thought that our assisting him over that period had enriched the end of his career. And what a distinguished one it was. I have been moved by the number of politicians who have approached me as it has become clear that he was dying, to say that they thought he was one of the most effective peers of his time.

He was always disarmingly frank and pragmatic about his death and he told me once how long a consultant said he had to live. He took the prediction very literally and precisely; I even joked with him he seemed to be treating it like an appointment and we both laughed. Similarly he joked with me how many of his ancestors had met their ends by being executed. Was it ten? I forget.

He certainly comes from a great lineage. The first baron Avebury was a polymath, and close friend of Charles Darwin. He was a successful banker and the most successful lawmaker of his time. He was responsible for introducing Bank Holidays, creating the cheque clearing system, the Shop Hours Act, Open Spaces Act, Public Libraries Act, the Ancient Monuments Act, which paved the way for the creation of English Heritage. He bought the stone age circle in Avebury, Wiltshire to save it for the nation – from jobbing builders who were about to destroy it.

I have lost a very close friend, The nation has lost a Human Rights champion. Our condolences to Lindsay his wife, and all his family.

Please add your own memories in the comments.

* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings