Obituary: Richard Gray

Richard Gray was rarely happier than when playing hockey for the club he founded, watched by his family.

The Ipswich & East Suffolk Hockey Club was a passion for the father-of-two ever since he helped set it up in 1986.

And as his children, Adam and Ruby, grew up they often watched him play.

Mr Gray was on his way to work as a tax manager with chartered accountants FW Smith Riches when he was killed at Aldgate.

He was blown out of the Tube carriage by the force of the blast and his body was found on the tracks outside.

Mr Gray and his wife Louise met when she was just 15 at the hotel where she had a part-time job serving breakfasts. They moved in together the following year and were married on 30 March 1991.

In her police statement, read to the inquest, Mrs Gray said there was nothing out of the ordinary about her husband's routine on 7 July 2005.

He got up at 6.00am, as he always did, before watching the news on television for an hour. He left home at 7.15am, dressed for work and carrying his briefcase.

That was the last time Mrs Gray saw her husband alive.

She described him as "fun-loving, kind and generous, an ordinary family man".

The image of him as a devoted husband and father was echoed by a fellow hockey player at his club.

"Richard was a gentleman of modest disposition, charm, courtesy and subtle humour and above all he was a family man."

As a member of the club's 3rd or 4th XI teams, he was also regarded as a pacy midfield or forward with an eye for goal.

Mr Gray had worked for FW Smith Riches for about five years and after his death the company said in a statement: "He was both well-liked and well thought of by partners and staff alike.

"Hard-working, conscientious and always ready to stop whatever he was doing and help out.

"Richard has always made a lot of time for the clients, happy to talk to them about all sorts of concerns as well as their financial offers."

Many of Mr Gray's clients had contacted the company to express their sympathy, the statement added.