Personal Finance Society staff and the wider profession have been shocked and saddened by the sudden death of the organisation’s popular PR manager David Booth.

Mr Booth, a lifelong Everton fan, died suddenly of a heart attack last Friday but the news has only been released this week.

Mr Booth was responsible for public relations for the organisation and regularly drafted and distributed news releases to media explaining the latest PFS initiatives and comments on issues in the financial services sector. He worked closely with many personal finance journalists and was involved in this highly successful PFS Festival of Financial Planning last year which attracted more than 3,000 people.

His death has shocked and saddened many in the profession and especially at the PFS. A tribute story to the much-liked industry professional has been added to Financial Planning Today (see link below)

Tributes to David Booth pour in

Keith Richards, PFS chief executive, confirmed the sad news to Financial Planning Today this morning.

He said: “David was one of the most humble and nicest of people I have met in my career, a true professional who loved what he did and most importantly the people he worked with – someone who is already massively missed by all who knew him – the team at the Personal Finance Society are all in shock."

PFS President and Chartered Financial Planner Sharon Sutton said: "He was a lovely, kind and positive person and I am privileged to have shared some time with him. They say only the good die young. So true in this case."

Another colleague,  Lee Travis, partnerships and member engagement Director, said: "David was a true gentleman, a real professional through and through and the nicest person I have ever had the privilege of working with. David’s tragic passing is a huge loss to our team in many ways. He wasn’t a colleague, he was friend to us all. Our thoughts are with his family at this very sad time."

Kevin O’Donnell, editor of Financial Planning Today, said: “David was an extremely nice man, one of the nicest people in PR, and a good friend to many journalists. He was always helpful and generous with this time and a great ambassador for the PFS. His unexpected death leaves many friends and family members very saddened and we send our condolences to all those who knew and worked with him. He will be missed."

This story will be updated so please check back later for further updates.

• Do you have any tributes you’d like to add to this story? Drop us a line to: editor@portfoliopublishing.co.uk and we'll add as many as we have space for.

• Update: 1 pm: new comments added.

• Update: 9 July - new Tribute story added - some tributes moved to main Tribute story