THE head of the Oxfordshire-based African Children’s Fund has been killed while on a charity mission to Kenya.

Sixty-four-year-old Peter Tyrer died in a head-on car crash in the capital Nairobi on Friday.

Last night his wife Dee and daughter Becky, 22, paid tribute at their home in Cow Lane, Longworth, and said they hoped to set up a trust in his name to continue his work.

African Children’s Fund, which has shops in Witney, Faringdon, Grove and Lechlade, helps youngsters in six schools in Kenya, three schools in Zimbabwe, and a nursery in Tanzania. It also helps refugees in Uganda.

Mr Tyrer was also treasurer of Abingdon Chamber of Commerce and chairman of governors at Longworth Primary School.

Mrs Tyrer, 54, said: “His main raison d’etre was to help the poor and his work in Africa was really important to him.

“He was very kind and he managed to touch lots of people’s lives. He was gregarious and would talk to lots of people and help where needed.”

She said he loved spending time in Africa and visited the continent at least three times a year, adding: “It was the people that mattered not the surroundings.”

Becky added: “He filled the room and in an awkward situation he would always make a joke.”

Mr Tyrer, a former teacher, was also vice chairman of the Wantage Liberal Democrats and had worked as a fundraising director for Oxfam.

Former chamber of commerce member Terry Boswell said: “He was a lovely guy with a big heart. He was very caring, very devoted to his calling of helping those in need in Africa.

“There will be a huge hole that will be hard, if not impossible, to fill.”

Chamber president Paul Townsend added: “It is absolutely terrible. He was out there trying to do some good.”

Longworth Primary School headteacher Janice Peacock said Mr Tyrer was passionate about everything he did.

She said: “He will be very sorely missed. It is an absolute tragedy. And as a school we are struggling to take the news in as he was a larger than life character.

“He spent his life trying to make things better and he did.”

Leader of the Vale Lib Dems Richard Webber added: “He was a real community man.”

The couple also have a son, Adam, 20.