Tributes have been paid to Patrick Nicholls, a retired senior partner at Diss based TW Gaze estate agency and auction house in Diss, who has died unexpectedly, aged 81.

Nicholls, who was born in Worcestershire in 1942, was the son of an estate agent and auctioneer operating in Hertfordshire.

Nicholls joined the agency as a trainee aged 20 and eventually became a chartered surveyor.

He was offered a job by Thos. Wm. Gaze & Son and moved to Diss in 1966. He married wife, Liz, a year later and had two children, Ben and Sarah.

Nicholls eventually became one of six partners at TW Gaze.

The firm’s director, Edward Baskerville, said: “He particularly enjoyed the quick business and a degree of fun and ‘theatre’ in auctioneering.

“He had a hard work ethic and developed a strong reputation for integrity and reliability, which served him well in the housing estate agency sector of South Norfolk and North Suffolk.”

Nicholls was tasked with developing the estate agency practice for TWGaze, which he did so successfully in the 1980’s and 1990’s.

Aside from sell residential properties, he also led the commercial side of the business.

Baskerville added: “Life and work in Norfolk was happy and the firm was prospering. He always said that he didn’t recall a day when he felt other than happy to be going to work.”

Away from estate agency, Nicholls he was an active rugby player and later vice president with Diss Rugby Club, he was a regular on the squash courts and was often engaged in raising money for charities.

Nicholls became the senior partner until he retired from the firm in 2002, aged 60.

Family members say his ‘sudden and unexpected passing’ has come as a ‘shock and surprise’ to many.

There will be a private cremation this week.

The family will be having a Service of Thanksgiving on Friday 15 March at 2:30pm at St. Peter & St. Paul’s Church, Aldeburgh.

Donations in memory can be made to The Aldeburgh Lifeboat Guild c/o Tony Brown Funeral Services, The Funeral Parlour, New Cut, Saxmundham Suffolk IP17 1EH.