FORMER leader and chairman of Hampshire County Council, Ken Thornber CBE, has died at the age of 84.

After graduating from Strathclyde University with a business degree, Ken worked as a management consultant for Philips, Price Waterhouse and Unilever, and travelled across the world. He also wrote Managing Change - The Organisation of Work for the Confederation of British Industry.

Ken was a New Forest resident for over 50 years, living in Sway with his wife Lin, and served on Hampshire County Council for 40 years. He was first elected in 1977 for Hythe, then in 1981 for Dibden and Hythe, and then from 1989 for Brockenhurst.

He continued to work as a consultant during his early years with the county council but gave this up when he was elected leader of HCC in 1999, continuing in this role until he was made chairman from 2013-14.

A self-confessed workaholic, Ken served on nearly all the council's main committees as well as on numerous other bodies, retiring in May this year. A few days before he died he was awarded the title of honorary alderman by the county council but was too ill to attend the ceremony.

In 1993 Ken was awarded the CBE for services to politics and the public, and his lifelong and distinguished contribution to public life in Hampshire was again recognised in 2005, when he was awarded an Honorary Fellowship by Winchester University for his contribution to health and policing in the county.

Ken was also a key figure in other organisations across the county, including Hampshire Police Authority and the New Forest National Park, where he was among its first members when it was formed in 2005.

He also served on the board of the Sir Harold Hillier Gardens and Arboretum and Hampshire Gardens Trust.

Earlier in the year he was the first person to be granted the 'freedom of Brockenhurst' for his many years' service to the village.

Roy Perry, HCC leader, said: "Ken was a hugely respected politician, both locally and nationally, and a public servant in the truest sense of the word. He not only represented the people of Hampshire but was also a voice for local government on the national stage, with roles as chairman of the County Councils Network, as well as chairman of the Local Government Association's resources committee. He also championed new ways of working in local government, introducing a voluntary partnership to bring public services in the county together.

"One of his many personal innovations was the commission he set up in Hampshire on adult social care which became a landmark for national policy development."

Ken died following an illness and is survived by his wife Lin and their four sons.