Peter Parvin, a former Mayor of Maidstone, has died.

Cllr Parvin of Meadow Walk had represented Leeds Wards on Maidstone Borough Council for almost 20 years, having been first elected in May 1995.

He was Mayor of Maidstone in 2009.

An active member, he was chairman of the borough’s licensing committee, and its general purposes group, a member of the standards committee and substitute member for the community, environment and housing scrutiny committee; planning referrals committee, and strategic leadership and corporate services scrutiny committee.

He was also the council’s representative on the Upper Medway Internal Drainage Board.

Cllr Parvin was born at Lambourn, Berkshire, to a horse racing family; his father was a champion steeplechase jockey. He was educated at King Alfred’s School, Wantage, and served five years in the Royal Air Force, seeing duty at home and all over the Middle East, including tours in the Canal Zone and Aden.

On leaving the RAF in 1957, he joined the Kent County Constabulary, subsequently transferring to the Metropolitan Police where he eventually retired as a senior police officer.

Last September he celebrated his diamond wedding anniversary with his wife Daphne, also a borough councillor and former Mayor.

The couple met in 1952, when Mr Parvin from Berkshire was stationed with the RAF in Mrs Parvin’s home village of Minster, Thanet.

The couple lived in Dover and Deal before moving to Maidstone in 1984.

Together they managed a nursing home in Buckland Road for three years before relocating to Caring Lane, in Leeds, where they ran a farm and the Caring for Cats cattery.

Cllr Parvin, who was 80, passed away on Tuesday. He had been suffering from cancer.

As well as Daphne, he leaves their daughter Gaye, seven grandchildren and eight great grandchildren, all living in the Maidstone area.