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A grief-stricken man has died “of a broken heart” just a month after his fiancée passed away.

Stuart ‘Bear’ Cooper, 41, from Hinkley in Leicestershire had known his partner Kerry since school but they became an item three years ago.

Adam, 41, one of Bear’s best and longtime friends who he also met during their schooldays, told Leicestershire Live all his pals were struggling to come to terms with the tragedy.

He said: “It was hard enough getting over Kerry, losing Bear is really quite hard.

(Image: LeicestershireLive/ WS)

"He was such a massive part and he’s had such an influence on our lives.

“I think we are all struggling to come to terms with it, it’s heartbreaking really."

The happy couple got engaged on Christmas Day last year and were busy planning for the big day when she passed away in July.

“It took him a long time to find the perfect partner. He clearly found his soul mate and he was really, really happy”, said Adam.

“He died of a broken heart.

(Image: LeicestershireLive/ WS)

“The only solace I can take is I like to think that he’s been reunited with Kerry. I’m just going to miss him. I spoke to him on a daily basis.”

Adam, who is known among their group of friends as ‘Wig’, first met Bear back in the early 90s when they were at secondary school.

He said: “My first memory of him was, we were playing football and we noticed this lad at the top of the field knocking a ball around by himself.

“We went and met him, that was how the friendship began.

“He was legendary, really the life and soul of the party. He had a fantastic sense of humour. He was probably the funniest person I have ever met.

(Image: LeicestershireLive/ WS)

“He was daft as a brush but he just had this way about him. He could just make people laugh, he had me in stitches so many times.”

Bear was dubbed with his ursine nickname after a funny incident during a holiday in Ibiza in 1999.

He was there with some friends and one day they saw him walking back with a load of bags and some six litre bottles of water, and they thought he looked like a bear as he lugged along."

The duo also shared a passion for curries with Bear happy to have a family naan all to himself.

They even had a Whatsapp group dedicated to their exploits at their favourite restaurants.

(Image: LeicestershireLive/ WS)

As well as his outgoing personality, Bear had a very gentle and loving character.

Adam said: “Despite the fact that he was so well known and everyone looked at him when we went out, he was quite a shy person.

“He was generally quite chipper but a bit of a gentle giant, a really caring bloke.

“He loved his niece and nephew, he was quite a big hit with the children.”

(Image: LeicestershireLive/ WS)

The friends organised some time away for Bear after Kerry died and they have clubbed together to support the commemorations since he died.

Adam said: “They have been brilliant the past few weeks. They have been full of ideas about what we would like to do for the family.”

Bear’s sister Kirsty has set up a JustGiving page in his memory, in aid of child bereavement charity The Laura Centre.

A message on the page said: “Stuart had an enormous heart and loved nothing more than his family and his friends.

“We would just really love to do something positive in Stuart’s name.”