TRIBUTES have been paid to Major Gen David Grove, a deputy lieutenant of Kent, who has died at his home in the village of Stelling Minnis, near Canterbury.

He died on New Year’s Eve after a four-year fight with cancer. He was 64.

The Lord Lieutenant, Allan Willett, said: “David Grove gave distinguished service to the nation as a senior Army officer, to Kent as a deputy lieutenant, and latterly to the voluntary sector where he led or helped very many local community organisations.”

Major Gen Grove, born in Guildford the son of a Royal Engineer officer killed in a wartime air crash while serving as an aide to Winston Churchill, was educated in British Columbia, Charterhouse School, England, and the University of Alberta, Canada.

After graduating with an honours degree in physics, he worked for the Canadian Government in the Yukon Territory on projects measuring global warming.

In 1965 he was commissioned into the Royal Engineers.

It was the start of a distinguished military career which included command of 12 Field Squadron and later of 26 Engineer Regiment in Germany, service on the elite Directing Staff at the Staff College, and as Military Assistant to the Vice Chief of the Defence Staff, for which he received the OBE in 1984.

He was Commandant of the Royal School of Military Engineering at Chatham from 1986-87, and went on to top Ministry of Defence staff appointments including Deputy Military Secretary, Director General, Personal Services (Army), and leader of the Future Careers Study.

Major Gen Grove retired from active service in 1993 but continued to serve in honorary appointments including Colonel Commandant, Royal Engineers, chairman of the Royal Engineers Museum, trustee of Haig Homes, chairman of the Royal Engineers Association, and chairman of commissioners of the Duke of York’s Royal Military School, Dover.

He and his wife Olivia, who were married in 1971, moved to Stelling Minnis in 1994, and he immediately became involved in voluntary work in the community.

As chairman of trustees for the Cobbes Meadow Group, Riding For the Disabled, he led the negotiations for the purchase of the charity’s Chartham headquarters, the lease of which was due to expire.

He also led the action group which transformed the old Stelling Minnis Wesleyan Chapel into a village hall, and only a week before his death was selecting pictures for display there.

In recent years he also chaired Stelling Minnis Parish Council, was a governor of Stelling Minnis School, churchwarden at St Mary’s, Stelling, and an Archbishop’s Nominee to the Diocesan Synod.

He was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of Kent in 2001.

Much of his community work was carried out despite debilitating courses of chemo and radiotherapy and major operations over the past four years.

In his tribute the Lord Lieutenant added: “He was a modest and kindly man, highly respected by all in the Lieutenancy and the whole community who admired not only his achievements but the great courage with which he fought his illness over the past few years. He will be greatly missed.”

Maj Gen Grove leaves a widow, Olivia, children Philip and Stella and granddaughter Daisy.

The funeral for family and close friends will be at St Mary’s, Stelling, at noon on Wednesday, January 11, and will be followed by a memorial service, details of which will be announced later.