RESPECTED Weymouth environmental expert Geoffrey Poole has died at the age of 90.

Remembered as an ‘eccentric academic’ and ‘larger than life character’, Mr Poole was well known for his environmental studies and somewhat of an authority on the Dorset landscape.

He passed away peacefully last Wednesday.

Born in Scarborough in 1926, Mr Poole began his working life as a Royal Naval technician resulting in him being posted to Portland in the 1950s.

After a distinguished career with the navy he went on to the University of Cambridge to study geomorphology.

Following his studies, Mr Poole secured a job as a lecturer at Weymouth College, a job he was to remain in until retirement.

Dear friend and former student of Mr Poole’s, Simon Price-Whittle said: “He was an inspiration and he will be greatly missed. He was my geography teacher at training college from1969 to 1973. In four years, I never missed a single one of his lectures, he was so interesting to listen to.”

As the retired Vice Principal of Erith School, London, Mr Price-Whittle believes Mr Poole was vital to his education, a relationship that grew into a great friendship for many years to come.

Mr Poole’s life work, dedicated to exploring his beloved adopted county, was esteemed in academic circles and caught the attention of both the regional and national press over the course of his career.

In 2008 he was awarded a Heritage Lottery Grant to turn his life work of photographs, illustrations and lecture notes into the ‘Geoffrey Poole Archive’.

Mr Price-Whittle said: “His knowledge of Weymouth and the surrounding region was quite astonishing and he has left behind an archive of his lifetime work that will be cherished by researchers for many generations to come.”

Outside of his studies, he was an active member of the community, often engaged in light hearted feuds with the Weymouth and Portland Borough Council.

Mr Price-Whittle added: “He was still intensely passionate about Weymouth, long after his retirement. Challenging, for example, the proposal for a new marina and taking on the environment Agency well into his eighties. Indeed he was peerless when it came to Chesil Beech and the Fleet.”

Recalling a visit paid to Mr Poole last year, Mr Price added: “He was as sharp as a new pin and we had to tear ourselves away from him, he was so engaging.”

A date for Mr Poole’s funeral is yet to be announced.