TRIBUTES have been paid to a popular dad who has died tragically young.

The family of Steve Needham say he was someone who would go out of his way to help anyone.

They said that 42-year-old Steve, who managed Cheers off-licence in Weymouth, was a man who regularly carried out good deeds for others.

His family has been overwhelmed by support from customers and dozens of sympathy cards sent by well-wishers.

Steve’s funeral will be held on Thursday and people have been asked not to wear mourning clothes to remember the dad-of-two.

He died suddenly at home in Chickerell of natural causes.

Tracey Sparks, his partner of 22 years, said: “This has made us realise just how much people thought of Steve.

“It’s now like something in the shop isn’t quite right.

“It’s like losing your arm but it’s much, much more than that.”

Steve, dad to Aimee, 14, and Craig, 12, ran the family business in Abbotsbury Road with his parents Shirley and Fred Needham for 20 years. Shirley, 62, said: “We want the kids to grow up knowing how much everybody loved Steve.

“We’ve had so many people asking about what happened to him.

“We’ve had both men and women coming into the shop and crying.”

Keen diver Steve took up the hobby aged 25 and reached the professional rank of dive master.

“His life was all about the family, the shop and diving,” said Tracey, 38.

She added: “He was quite a private person who didn’t like being in the limelight. He had two different faces.

“One was the businessman at the shop and the other side of him was the family side which was a much softer side.”

Former Budmouth school pupil Steve wanted to have children before he was 30, Tracey said.

“He couldn’t do enough for them. He loved them to bits. Anything that Steve could do for them, he would.”

Steve, who would work seven days a week every day of the year in the shop, would try and help anyone who asked him.

Shirley said: “He found lodgings for some of the workmen who are working on the roundabout down the road.

“He helped Polish people get accommodation and helped people move into flats around here. He would always know how to get people in touch with the right people. People would come in to buy something and they’d still be talking to him 45 minutes later.

“He’d always be laughing and joking with people.”

Anyone who knew Steve is invited to his funeral at Weymouth Crematorium on Thursday at 1.45pm.

Donations will be collected for the Weymouth branch of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.

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