DR Tim Lusty, who died aged 76, was a local farmer and doctor whose pioneering work helped shape Oxfam’s humanitarian work in the 1970s and 1980s.

Appointed its first disasters officer in 1976, he established the Oxfam Health Unit, which helped develop emergency feeding packs and water distribution kits that are still used in disaster areas today.

Dr Lusty was born on October 7, 1938 in Herefordshire, to William and Olive. In the 1950s the family moved to a farm in Compton, on the Berkshire Downs.

Dr Lusty’s mother was the principal farmer and bred dairy shorthorn and Hereford cows and, later, racehorses. His father was an Oxford rugby blue who went into property, but also helped with the farm.

He went to Rugby School and then St Peter’s College, Oxford, where he gained a first degree in Agriculture in 1961 and then another, in medicine, in 1965.

He helped out at his parents’ farm and then from 1966 ran his own at Cumnor – where he lived for most of his life – while also taking temporary medical posts and doing spells of international volunteering.

In 1973 he obtained a diploma from London University in child health and then in tropical public health in 1976.

Dr Lusty’s first posting with Oxfam was in 1970, as a volunteer doctor in Nigeria. He was involved in emergency nutrition work in the wake of the Nigerian Civil War, providing food to large numbers of severely malnourished children.

He went on to advise the charity on emergency relief and development programmes in more than 60 countries. Dr Lusty was one of the first to acknowledge the scale of the threat posed by the HIV virus to poor countries and the necessity of aid agency cooperation.

He helped set up the UK NGO AIDS consortium in 1985 and was elected its first chairman. His insistence on close collaboration with the academic world ensured that Oxfam’s public health programmes were well researched, evidence-based and open to public scrutiny.

From 1987 to 1992, he also worked for what was to become the Department for International DevelDevelopment as a consultant and senior health adviser, as well as for other governments and the United Nations.

His former colleagues Pat Diskett, a former nurse in the Oxfam Health Unit, and Paddy Coulter, head of communications at Oxfam from 1982 to 1987 and a trustee in the 1990s, said: “Tim touched the lives of many and is fondly remembered for his inspirational leadership, strong sense of social justice, determination even in the face of adversity and his indefatigable sense of humour and kindness.

“He is also remembered for his many ideas, which often led to practical innovations, for example he initiated the development of emergency feeding kits, high-energy biscuits and water distribution kits.’’ Dr Lusty was diagnosed with prostate cancer 10 years ago. Although only given two or three years to live by doctors he survived a further seven.

He lived for a period in Kingston Road, North Oxford, before moving back to Compton in the months before his death.

During his last year, he made a visit to the West Bank and on return lobbied for the first-ever Oxford Palestine Festival.

He did not live to see it but the festival he championed, ‘Palestine Unlocked’, will be held in Oxford this year from June 4 to 21.

Dr Lusty died in Sobell House, Oxford, on January 30.

He is survived by children Nicholas, Justin, Alexandra and Charlotte – whom he had by his wife Jackie – as well as seven grandchildren and his partner of the past decade, Leonora Pitt.

A memorial service will be held for Dr Lusty on April 18 at noon, St Margaret’s Church, North Oxford.

It will be followed by a reception afterwards at St Margaret’s Institute in Polstead Road.