Obituary: Geoff Sims, charity fundraiser, 46

Geoff Sims, whose career in charity fundraising culminated in the foundation of the Edinburgh Marathon Festival, has died of cancer aged 46.

Mr Sims is credited with resuscitating the Edinburgh Marathon after a seven-year absence, which has raised more than 3 million for 380 charities in recent years.

Born in Derby in 1963, Mr Sims attended the town's Bemrose Senior School but left school with limited qualifications. He joined the Covenant Players, a Christian theatre company, and travelled with them to France, Germany, Canada, and the USA.

Family and friends say that Mr Sims had an entrepreneurial spirit from an early age, starting a car valeting company at age 22. It was a quality that came in handy in his later work developing business plans and fundraising strategies for charities.

A desire for a more rural environment to raise his young children inspired Mr Sims' family's move to East Lothian, settling in North Berwick more than ten years ago. He nonetheless stayed in touch with his church community in Derby, where he was heavily involved in the parish lay government.

Mr Sims' revival of the Edinburgh Marathon in 1993 was the first time the race had been held for seven years. The marathon had been abandoned in 1986 after attracting just 3000 participants despite that being the year Edinburgh hosted the Commonwealth Games. The new incarnation brought the same number its first year, and has since gone from strength to strength, attracting 23,000 runners earlier this year. The event was also voted the world's top city marathon. As well as his administrative role at the Edinburgh Marathon, Mr Sims was a keen runner. He completed the New York Marathon in 2008, and had hoped to run the London Marathon in 2011 in aid of the Alzheimers Society, as his father Fred suffers from the disease.

His other sport of choice was cricket, and he was a member of the Bass Rock Cricket Club in North Berwick. In his free time, he kept fit at the gym, enjoyed beach walking, and watched science fiction on television.

Mr Sims was diagnosed with bowel cancer in May 2010. He passed away at St Columba's Hospice in Edinburgh. His partner, Lorna, remembers him as "a loving and caring man - a true romantic" with a real sense of fun. Friends also paid tribute, with marathon race director Neil Kilgour saying his friend had left a lasting legacy.

"We as a team have been privileged to have worked with and had as a friend a loving individual who will be very much missed by us all," he said. "His legacy is the positive impact that he had on all who worked with him, as well as the knowledge that he has put in place a team that will continue to deliver world-class events that raise significant money for charity."

Mr Sims is survived by his parents, brothers and sisters, his partner and his children Michael, Rebeckah and Joe.