Daniel Moriarty, a former Mayor of Maidstone, has died.

Mr Moriarty was a Labour councillor for Park Wood from 2002 until 2008, when midway through his second term he crossed the floor to the Liberal Democrats. He lost the subsequent election, but was re-elected as an Independent in 2012, serving until 2016.

He was the mayor for the civic year starting in May 2015.

Born in Tonbridge in 1944, Mr Moriarty was a “Man of Kent” with an Irish heritage.

He started his working life as an apprentice with Whatman’s paper-makers in Maidstone and spent more than 35 years with the company.

He became involved in politics when the then local councillor John Talbot asked him for help with some community projects.

Mr Moriarty cared passionately about his community and was quite happy to receive knocks on his front-door late into the night from people asking for help with local matters.

He was involved in the creation of a new park area for children in his ward and was in at the beginning of the regeneration project which has seen today’s transformation of Park Wood.

During his year as Mayor, he was assisted by his niece Shirley Moriarty as Mayoress as sadly his wife Lana was battling her own illness at the time.

During his term, Mr Moriarty became aware that he was ill, but he kept the seriousness of his condition private and continued to attend as many Mayoral functions and civic duties as possible. He passed away on Monday, May 8, a year almost to the day since the end of his term as Mayor.

His niece Shirley Moriarty said: “He was a cheeky character. I never knew what he was going to do or say next but that kept me on my toes. The family will miss him a great deal.”

He had no children of his own, but cared greatly for his step-daughter Kelly and her two boys Jake and Connor during his 26-years of marriage.

The funeral will be at Vinters Crematorium at 2pm on Wednesday. Family flowers only have been requested but donations can be made to the Heart of Kent Hospice and should be sent to Doves Funerals, 1 Knightrider Street, Maidstone, ME15 6LP.