An inquest found that a father and grandfather from Felixstowe died as the result of exposure to asbestos, although when it happened could not be known for certain.
On Wednesday, the inquest of Peter Taylor was brought to a close at Suffolk Coroners' Court in Ipswich.
Mr Taylor died on December 4 last year in Ipswich Hospital at the age of 65.
He was husband to Sheena, and was father to four children and a grandfather of six.
Mr Taylor worked at the Port of Felixstowe from the age of 23, and worked his way up the ranks.
He was also a keen Ipswich Town fan. In January, Town fans honoured Mr Taylor’s memory at the home Championship game against QPR with a minute-long round of applause after 65 minutes, one for each of the years of Mr Taylor’s life.
In a tribute to her father, Mr Taylor’s daughter, Brooke, said her father was a modest a modest man and a doting father.
“My dad was a fighter, he put up one hell of a fight for the last four years of his life,” she said.
"I would describe him as hardworking, honest, an old school man with morals you don’t see much anymore.
"He loved his family more than anything, every gift he got us was so thoughtful and he always made us feel incredibly loved and cherished."
In a tribute written by Mr Taylor’s son, James, which was read before the court on Wednesday, he said his father was a man who would always go out of his way to help others, and gave “so much love” to his family and friends.
He said that, before his cancer diagnosis in 2020, his father was a fit and active man who enjoyed cycling and riding Harley-Davidson motorbikes.
The court heard that Mr Taylor was diagnosed with mesothelioma in May of 2020. Mesothelioma is a cancer of mesothelial tissue which is typically associated with previous exposure to asbestos.
The court heard that Mr Taylor underwent many rounds of chemotherapy. At first, his cancer seemed to respond, but further tests showed that it had again begun to progress.
He attended Ipswich Hospital with suspected aspiration pneumonia on November 22, where he remained until he passed away.
In summing up the evidence, coroner Peter Taheri said that, while asbestos is a known industrial disease, there was not sufficient evidence to say that Mr Taylor was exposed to asbestos during his working life.
He therefore delivered a narrative conclusion, ruling that Mr Taylor had died as the result of a known industrial disease but when, where and how the exposure to asbestos had occurred could not be determined.
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