Mark Hopkins, head of commercial with publishers DC Thomson and Co Ltd, has died at the age of 50 after losing his battle with cancer.
Mark, who lived with his wife Iona and two-year-old daughter Alexandra in Broughty Ferry, was diagnosed with a brain tumour in April last year.
He was treated at Ninewells Hospital and was latterly a patient at Roxburghe House.
Mark was born in Welwyn Garden City and grew up in Hertfordshire, attending schools in Hatfield before going on to Potters Bar College.
He completed an apprenticeship as an electrician and spent several years in the trade before moving to Australia, where he began his career in newspapers.
Upon his return to the UK he worked for a number of trade magazines before joining the Mirror Group as a senior sales group executive in 1990.
Six years later he joined Express Newspapers where he spent five years, eventually becoming group commercial controller.
In 2001 he left to become a media business consultant, working with a range of companies including BBC Worldwide and Scotsman.com.
It was while working for the BBC that he met Iona.
Then, in 2008, Press Holdings Group, publishers of The Spectator, appointed Mr Hopkins as group digital director and he successfully led the redesign and relaunch of the magazine’s websites and blogs.
He resumed working as a consultant the following year before joining DC Thomson and Co Ltd in 2011.
A keen cook and tennis player, Mark, who was described as a kind and loyal friend, was also a black belt in Tae Kwon Do.
DC Thomson chief executive Ellis Watson said: “To lose anyone to cancer is always a tragedy but never more so when they are young and full of life, fun, passion and potential.
“In Mark’s case this was all true, and the loss is compounded by him leaving behind his fabulous wife Iona and their beautiful daughter Alexandra.
“Mark gave throughout all of his life and even towards the end his final gift was to demonstrate what dignity, fortitude and a ridiculously vibrant sense of humour can do to help when the chips are down.
“He was loved and admired when he was well, but probably most respected and admired when he was not anyone that thinks of Mark will smile and be better off for having known him.”