TRIBUTES have been paid to Dan Kemp, the former managing director of Oxford timber firm Timbmet, who died on Sunday aged 87.

Hundreds of mourners attended his funeral at Wolvercote Cemetery on Tuesday and Simon Fineman, chairman of Timbmet and Mr Kemp’s son-in-law, said the head office at Cumnor Hill had been flooded with letters of condolence.

Mr Fineman said: “He was a remarkable man who never retired and still came into the office. And when he couldn’t this year, he would be on the telephone.

“He was passionate about the business and took a very keen interest in every aspect of it, from the people who worked for him to his customers.”

Mr Kemp was born Dezider Daniel Kampfner in Czechoslovakia in 1922.

As a Jewish family with the Second World War looming, his father, Ludwig, arranged for them to escape to the UK.

Arriving before the rest of the family, Mr Kemp spent some time in Cardiff and London before joining up with his parents in Oxford in May 1945 where he joined his father’s timber firm.

After his father died in the late 1950s, Mr Kemp took over the business, moving it to Cumnor Hill in 1956. Over the the next 40 years he built it up to be the UK’s largest hardwood importer.

Mr Fineman said: “He was totally dedicated and completely single-minded. He knew that people were just as important as timber and while he was tough, he was also extremely fair.

“He was capable of forgiving any limitations as long as the person involved was doing the right thing.”

When he stepped down as managing director in 2000, the business employed hundreds of people and had an annual turnover approaching £100m.

One major challenge came in 1992 when environmental campaigners invaded the Cumnor Hill site, unfurling banners against the import of South American hardwoods.

Mr Kemp said all his products were legal and that Timbmet had ploughed £75,000 into the Timber Trade Federation’s Forests Forever campaign. But with the help of Mr Fineman, the company reviewed its policies to promote timber that had been independently certified as coming from properly managed woods by the Forestry Stewardship Council.

The firm also set up the Association of Responsible Timber Traders.

Outside work, Mr Kemp was extremely active in the Oxford Jewish community.

With his wife Rosie, he first lived near Cutteslowe Park, before moving to Summertown in the early 1970s.

Mr Kemp suffered a fall in February, breaking an ankle, and his health gradually deteriorated afterwards.

He is survived by Rosie and their two children, Simon, who also works for Timbmet, and Evie, and four grandchildren.