TRIBUTES have been paid to the “warm, supportive and much-loved” legal chief at Oxford City Council, who has died aged 47 after a cycling event on Sunday.

Jeremy Thomas had been the local authority’s head of law and governance since July 2005 but was taken ill while riding in the 50-mile Bike Oxford charity race.

He was taken to the John Radcliffe Hospital but did not survive, the city council said.

Council leader Bob Price said Mr Thomas’ death was a tragic loss.
He said: “He made a transformational contribution to the city council in many areas, and will be particularly remembered as the architect of the council’s new constitution, as well as for his work in establishing a highly efficient electoral registration system in a city with one of the highest levels of voter turnover in the country.

“He was a key member of the corporate management team and was widely liked and respected by councillors.

“Our hearts go out to his family. Their loss is even more grievous than ours.”

Mr Thomas, who was married with children, came to the council from Swansea, where he had been a principal deputy head of legal and deputy monitoring.

Since taking his post in Oxford, he has served as the city’s returning officer and presided over 30 elections, including those for parish, county and city councils, general elections and the EU referendum.

City council chief executive Peter Sloman said: “I know I speak for everyone when I say we have lost a trusted and respected colleague, a man who made a huge contribution to this city and, more than anything, that we have all lost a kind, warm, supportive and much loved friend.”

A statement from Mr Thomas’ colleagues in the council’s legal department said he was “a highly effective lawyer and monitoring officer, always practical and pragmatic in his application of the law, but resolute on important matters of principle.”

They added: “Always approachable and willing to offer assistance, Jeremy was respected throughout the council. He was greatly liked by all in the law and governance department he led for over ten years, and to whom his loss will be keenly felt.”

The city council said Mr Thomas was taken ill while riding in Bike Oxford outside Ashendon, near Aylesbury, shortly after 11am on Sunday.

The event, which attracted almost 1,000 riders, started and finished at The Cherwell School in Oxford but took in parts of Buckinghamshire.

The city council Green group also paid tribute to Mr Thomas, with leader Craig Simmons describing him as “universally liked”.

He added: “Not only was he excellent at his job, but he was engaging, frequently humourous and friendly.

“He was the perfect legal officer; helpful, knowledgeable and, when he needed to be, challenging. Our sincere condolences go out to his family.”