PETER Wassell was a devoted family man who lived in three different continents during his life.

Following a courageous battle with cancer, the 52-year-old sadly passed away on Saturday, October 1, in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Peter grew up in Parkstone and attended Branksome Heath Middle School and Poole Grammar School.

After securing an apprenticeship with Loewy Robertson of Wallisdown, later Davy Mckee, he went on to study engineering at Portsmouth Polytechnic.

In 1986 he married his first wife and they emigrated to Perth, West Australia, and raised three children.

Peter worked on the longest conveyor belt in the Southern Hemisphere bringing bauxite from the mine to the factory at Worsley, 100 miles south of Perth.

In later years he worked on a research project to recycle waste heat from a mining power station 400 miles north of Perth.

Peter was first diagnosed with cancer in his mid-thirties. In his mid-forties the cancer returned and again he battled to overcome the disease. Peter separated from his first wife and later fell in love with a woman from Brazil. The couple married and moved to Sao Paulo in January. They were planning on returning to Perth in October but in July Peter was re-diagnosed with cancer and his health rapidly deteriorated.

He passed away just two days before him and his wife were due to move back to Australia.

After being cremated in Sao Paulo, Peter’s ashes have been returned to West Australia for scattering at Coral Bay, one of his favourite fishing and snorkelling beaches.

Paying tribute to her brother, Anthea Wassell said: “Pete, you will be greatly missed. The world is an emptier place without you. You were an amazing person.”