An Oxfordshire accountant who was one of the founder members of the Isis Rotary Club has died aged 53.

Tony Cooper was the second secretary of the philanthropic organisation that was set up by Oxford business leaders in 1985.

Mr Cooper, a former pupil of John Mason School, Abingdon, was a well known accountant in the local business community and ran the firm Cooper Richards for more than 20 years.

He set up the firm in the 1980s with Mike Richards after previously working for Meil and Co accountants in Kidlington.

Cooper Richards was originally based in High Street, Wheatley where his wife, Catherine, ran the nearby Wheatley Home Video shop. It then moved to Orchard End in Holton in recent years.

Mr Cooper, who lived in Appleton, was also the company secretary for Warbourton Building Services, based in Farmoor, and had formerly been a governor of Wheatley Primary School.

The keen golfer at Studley Wood Golf Club died after a heart attack on January 3.

Less than a month previously he had been diagnosed with lung cancer.

More than 200 people attended his funeral at St Laurence’s Church, Appleton, on Thursday, January 15.

Mr Cooper leaves behind his wife, Catherine, 52, daughter Emma, 16, and two step-children, John 31 and Kirsty, 26.