TRIBUTES have been paid to a popular Bury man who has died.

Few have been more productive in their lifetime than Gordon Lomax who died last month, aged 83.

He represented Lancashire in three different sports, worked as a pilot, a journalist, a tennis coach, owned a chain of sports shops, and even managed to find the time to write four books.

Born in Radcliffe in 1934, Gordon was brought up in Rochdale Road, Bury, by his parents Richard and Elsie, and attended Bury Grammar School.

Sporting success was already in his blood — his grandfather, Jack, played for Bury FC — and Gordon went on to play several sports including tennis, table tennis, golf and bowls and represented Lancashire in three different sports.

In 1957, Gordon married his first wife Dorothy and had a son, Kenneth, in 1959.

He worked as a pilot in the Royal Air Force for a short period, before setting up his own chain of sports shops, including one in Bury New Road, in Whitefield, which he ran until 1986.

A well-known figure within the Bury table tennis circuit, Gordon was chairman of the local league for 14 years.

His voice also became a familiar one on the airwaves in his role as a broadcaster for BBC Radio Manchester.

During his lifetime, he even found the time to pen four books, including “100 ways to better Tennis Thinking”, “Musings of a Black Pudding Man”, “Further Musings of a Black Pudding Man” and “Mushy Peas, Fish and Chips, or, (Why I am like I am): The Memoir of the first decade in a Lancashire boy’s life in both peace and war”.

However, Gordon’s marriage to Dorothy didn’t last and he re-married Jytte Ryder in 1986, a Dane who spoke 6 languages. 

Gordon described her as the love of his life and the pair emigrated to Spain before moving to Florida, where he worked as a tennis coach and a journalist. 

They returned to the UK briefly to live in Devon before moving to Napier, in New Zealand, around the turn of the century. 

They also bought a property in Bognor Regis, where they would spent their summer months.

He was a passionate Bury FC supporter and followed their fortunes wherever they went.

Mr Lomax’s health deteriorated recently and he died in the early hours of Thursday, February 22 in Bognor Regis, with Jytte by his side.

His friend Gordon Niven said: “Gordon was great company. His positive outlook on life had an uplifting effect on those who met him. He was a very talented and great man."

His funeral will take place at Chichester Crematorium on Monday, March 19.