RETIRED teacher Roland Dick, a former deputy head of Maidstone's Invicta Grammar School has died after a long fight against illness. He was 71.

Dr Dick was a popular and versatile man who taught English, French, Latin and Religious Studies at the school in Huntsman Lane for 35 years. Having studied classics and languages at Oxford University he went on to gain a doctorate in French West African literature.

He was deputy head teacher for more than a decade before he retired in 1996. He continued to teach Latin to adults after his retirement. His widow, Gwyneth, said: "He had a terrific sense of humour. I think that is what people will remember. He had a very wide knowledge on all sorts of subjects and always planned to write a book but never got around to it."

Brian White, a former colleague and friend of Dr Dick, said: "People sometimes compliment a person by using the colloquial phrase 'a scholar and a gentleman'.

"Roland Dick was both of these and was certainly one of the most intelligent men I have met. He was not high profile and didn't seek publicity, but he was very significant to a lot of people behind the scenes. He was a lovely man, and many people will miss him very much."

Dr Dick also leaves three sons. The funeral service was held at Vinters Park Crematorium on Thursday.