Dave Wille, who championed stone in Wales for many years, died unexpectedly on 24 September. He was working on a barn conversion when he had a heart attack. He was 61.

Dave was passionate about Welsh stone and used it to build and restore many buildings. He knew most of the owners of the Welsh quarries and was friends with many of them, helping to promote their stones.

He was an enthusiastic founder member of the Welsh Stone Forum and was never reluctant to add his voice to debates within the organisation. He was also in the process of creating the definitive website of the stones of Wales. In 2001 he gained a geology-based honours degree and had a Diploma in Environmental Policy as well as Fellowship of the Geological Society.

For the past 15 years he had been building his own house, called Taliesin, when his contracting and consultancy work allowed. It featured some of the stones of Wales and was nearing completion, as Dave intended to move into it when he retired.

His family asked for donations to a trust fund to finish the house (donations to David West at Oliver Evans & Son, 125 Priory Street, Carmarthen SA31 1NB, email: oliverevans.carmarthen@letsco.operate.com) rather than flowers for his funeral. Any extra funds would be donated to Abernant Church, where Dave was buried following a funeral at St Martin’s Church in Merthyr, near Carmarthen, which is one of the oldest churches in Wales.

Dave leaves his partner of many years, Melanie, and children James, Jane, Karen and Andrew.