Allan Copelin, who has died aged 86, was a sporting enthusiast who was known for his love of billiards and cricket.

The grandfather-of-four, from Oxford, was a multiple winner of many billiard competitions in the city, and played as much as he could at Riley’s snooker club.

He was also a talented cricket player, but only did it for fun.

A dedicated employee, he worked for a local stationery firm Ofrex for 35 years of his life. He won the ‘salesman of the month’ competition nearly every month.

Allan George Copelin was born in 1929 in Morrell Avenue, Oxford to chef Alfred Copelin and housekeeper Rosa.

He had one sister, Pearl, who died several years ago.

As a boy he attended East Oxford Secondary School and then joined the Royal Navy at the age of 17, where he served as a petty officer and a radar operator.

Mr Copelin was stationed in Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, for two years while in the Navy, but his service saw him travel the world.

He returned to Oxford after seven years when his father died and needed to support his mother.

At 24, Mr Copelin started working as an electrician mending TVs in Cowley but in 1959 he switched professions and took up a job as a sales executive for stationery firm Ofrex.

During this time he would visit all the colleges and universities in Oxford and according to his daughter Sharon, Mr Copelin was ‘top of his game’, winning consecutive ‘salesman of the month’ awards.

He brought home new fridges, holidays and other presents after winning prizes for the most products sold. He continued to work at Ofrex for 35 years until his retirement in 1994.

In 1955, Mr Copelin met his soon-to-be-wife, Pamela, at a dance in Oxford’s Town Hall.

She lived in Banbury at the time and would travel by train to visit him. On his turn to visit, he would cycle the 24 miles to Banbury to be with her.

A year later, the couple married in Banbury and started living with Mr Copelin’s parents in Oxford.

Their first house together was in Sandy Lane, where they moved in the 1960s, before Mr Copelin started building a house opposite the Kassam football stadium.

A group of people, including Mr Copelin, got together every evening after work to help build the house between 1966 to 1969.

Not long after marrying, the couple had their first child, Lorraine, in 1957, followed by Marcus in 1959, and Sharon in 1960.

The family lived in the house Mr Copelin built until 1977, before moving just around the corner to a new property.

As well as a keen cricketer, Mr Copelin was also an enthusiastic billiard player at Riley’s Snooker Club and was champion many times.

He only stopped playing when the effects of dementia struck him in 2013.

He and his wife were enthusaistic globetrotter, visiting 27 different countries, including China, Australia, New Zealand, and Sri Lanka, over 30 years.

During the last two years of his life, Mr Copelin attended Rosewood Day Centre in Blackbird Leys – a specialist environment for dementia sufferers.

Ten weeks before he died he moved to Spencer Court, a residential care home for dementia sufferers in Woodstock.

Mr Copelin died on August 25, after suffering pneumonia. He is survived by his wife Pamela, his three children and four grandchildren.

His funeral took place yesterday at Rose Hilll Cemetery.