A much-loved grandfather who enjoyed a successful career in the chemical industry has died peacefully aged 82.

Richard 'Dick' Copeman was born in Norwich on May 14, 1933 and was raised in Sheringham.

His father Tom was editor-in-chief of the Eastern Daily Press and he followed in his footsteps by holding a position as an Archant board member for two decades.

The company was founded by the Copemans and two other families.

Mr Copeman, who was from Quaker stock, was educated at a small school in the Lake District during the Second World War, then at the independent Bootham School in York.

A keen sportsman, he enjoyed competing in all things from sailing and skating to badminton and bridge, and met his wife Janet through the 'tea and tennis' circuit in Norwich.

Their first date was sailing on the Norfolk Broads.

Mr Copeman went straight to Corpus Christi College at Cambridge University after his national service, and married five weeks after graduation.

He took his first job, as a materials scientist specialising in metals, working in Birmingham.

However, he maintained his links with Norfolk, buying a tiny flint cottage in South Creake, between Fakenham and the Burnhams.

He had three children, and they recall their father as an avid reader who valued family history, keeping a huge tin trunk full of Copeman history going back to the 1600s.

The family relocated to Cheshire in the mid 1960s when Mr Copeman got a new job in Widnes.

After he took early retirement ­from McKechnie Chemicals, where he was managing director, he took up golf and was a keen artist. He died on April 21.

He leaves three children, Michael Copeman, Sarah Gould and Lisa Hutt, as well as seven grandchildren and two step-grandchildren.

His funeral will be held at the Vale Royal Crematorium in Davenham, near Northwich, Cheshire on Monday, May 16.

Donations to Cancer Research UK.