Anthony (Tony) Ludlow, who died recently aged 78, was a biologist and local councillor who lived in Alton for 35 years.

Born in December 1943 in Nigeria to a Methodist minister father and a surgeon mother, Tony spent his childhood in Nigeria and England. He went to school in Bath, taught in Nigeria and studied zoology at King’s College, London.

He worked at Silwood Park, part of Imperial College, for 18 years and met Elizabeth (Liz) Atkinson there. They married in 1978 and had two children, Fred and Alice, and two grandchildren, Oliver and Arwen.

Tony moved to Alton in 1987 to work for the Forestry Commission Research Division in Alice Holt Forest. He retired in 1997 but then chaired two NHS trusts.

He was a Liberal Democrat district and county councillor, chair of governors of The Butts and Amery Hill schools, and welcomed twin town visitors from Montecchio Maggiore in Italian. A keen runner and cyclist, he once raced against Seb Coe – losing by “a large margin!”.

He loved birds, and son Fred said: “As a child in Nigeria he had welcomed monkeys, peacocks and many other animals into the house, his father describing it as a Noah’s Ark, with Tony keeping the door wide open for pairs of any species.”

Mr Ludlow died on October 30 and his funeral was held at the Church of St Lawrence in Alton on November 21.