More than 200 people turned out to pay their respects to a long serving doctor who passed away suddenly.
Dr Mamdouh Mohamed Ahmed died suddenly at his home on Park Lane on Monday, March 16 aged 63.
Mourners packed into the Accrington crematorium chapel for the funeral of the father-of-two, who ran the St Hubert’s Road surgery in Great Harwood for more than 25 years and had 1,000 patients on his books.
His daughter Ophelia said it was amazing to see so many people at the service for her father.
She said: “We had 200 orders of service printed and I don’t think there were very many left.
“It was amazing to see how many people’s lives my father had touched.
“His death was so unexpected, he was such a big personality and it was such a shock for everyone. He was very well known in the community.
“We haven’t heard from the coroner’s office yet.
“He was a very helpful man, so kind and caring, he cared about everyone.”
Ophelia said she was touched by how many people her father had cared for the community.
She said: “One lady spoke to me yesterday and said her partner was one of his patients, and when she went to the surgery with her partner, she was treated like a friend.
“Its comforting that there are so many people who feel the same sense of loss as we do, it makes you feel less alone.
“The service was the send off my father would have wanted.
“I’d like to thank people for their support, everybody has been amazing, the comments from people and everybody who has shown their support, I don’t think we could have coped without it.”
Dr Ahmed, who was married to Patricia for 34 years, ran the surgery from 1988 to 2011 before taking early retirement.
Originally from Egypt, he moved to London before later living in Manchester and Blackburn and worked at Blackburn Royal Infirmary.
A post-mortem will be carried out to determine the cause of death.
People have also been paying tribute to Dr Ahmed on the Observer’s Facebook page.
Steph Livesey said: “Will be very sadly missed, a life saver, a true gentleman, a honour to have known him and have him as our family GP until the day he retired.
“Very sad news, our hearts go out to his lovely Wife and Family, Rest In Peace.”
