MANY people from Exmouth will be saddened this week to hear of the death of former estate agent Peter Eley, who was born in the town.

MANY people from Exmouth will be saddened this week to hear of the death of former estate agent Peter Eley, who was born in the town.

Mr Eley died in hospital on Monday, August 31, aged 82. He had been suffering with a heart condition for some years.

Born in Exmouth in 1927, Mr Eley attended Exmouth Grammar School. He joined the Royal Navy towards the end of World War Two and was involved in D-Day preparations at Plymouth.

After the war, he joined Palmers estate agency, in Budleigh Salterton before moving to become manager of the Sidmouth office of Purnell, Daniell and Morrell, then sited in what is now part of Fields.

Soon after relocating to High Street, it became Peter Eley Estate Agents, and was a family-run business for decades until its recent closure.

His wife Kathleen (Thorn), who he married in Exmouth in 1951, died in 2004. He leaves sons Stephen and Richard.

No funeral arrangements had been made at the time the Journal went to PRESS.