Friends, colleagues and residents across Oakville have been left reeling from news that Max Khan, an Oakville town councillor and the federal Liberal candidate for Oakville North-Burlington, died in hospital this weekend, according to Oakville Mayor Rob Burton. He was 46.

Khan represented Ward 6 in Oakville, which he shared with Councillor Tom Adams. Adams said Khan died early Sunday morning. He worked with the town of Oakville for nine years, having been elected for his third term on council last year.

“I learned of it late, late last night and I understand he went into Oakville Trafalgar Hospital around 7 o’clock and passed away just a little after midnight,” Adams told the Star.

Adams said Khan had been feeling ill and had gone to hospital for pneumonia-like symptoms.

Mayor Burton, who had driven to the hospital to be with Khan’s family members, issued a statement on Facebook early Sunday morning.

“My grief and sense of loss are profound,” he said.

Burton met Khan when the two men were running for council in 2006, and described the veteran of Oakville politics as a “tireless tiger in defense of Oakville’s residents.”

“I told him when I met him when we ran in 2006 that that was the role that fate had placed in front of him. I already could tell, then, what he would bring to the job — and he certainly never disappointed.”

Khan was also a trial lawyer and did pro bono legal work for several humanitarian organizations, but his political ambitions extended beyond the town; he was nominated last fall to run for the federal Liberal Party in the upcoming 2015 election in the Oakville North-Burlington riding.

Federal Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau tweeted his shock upon hearing of Khan’s death.

“Shocked and very saddened at the sudden passing of #Oakville’s @MaxKhanLib. My heart is with his loved ones — he will be sorely missed,” he wrote.

Khan, who had lived in Oakville for about 27 years according to his council profile page, had braved three bouts of cancer in his lifetime.

“None of us expected him to pass away. We thought he was free and clear,” Adams said.

“He always had a kind word to say and a smile on his face. He was a really nice guy to work with and it’s very, very sad to see him go.”

Adams said his former colleague was a “guy who never stood up for the status quo,” describing him as a “strong advocate” for Oakville residents.

He said Khan “always pushed for better. I’ll always remember that.”

Like Adams, friends and colleagues — often one in the same — insist Khan would put others’ needs before his own, and that he wanted to make a difference.

Khan is the reason Pam Damoff, now a town councillor for Ward 2 in Oakville, first ran for the job.

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“You won’t find anyone that will have a bad word to say about Max. He brought people together from all religions, all walks of life, all ages. It was just so important to him to be inclusive,” she said.

As a cancer survivor himself, Khan was also big supporter of the annual Terry Fox run, which Damoff helped organize.

“We had a Team Max in the run every year,” she said.

In 2012, to mark the one-year anniversary of his latest cancer diagnosis on the day of the Terry Fox run, Damoff said Khan had arranged and paid for a community barbecue to encourage people to participate in the run and to make donations.

Damoff had gone to visit Khan in hospital during one of his chemotherapy treatments. Even then, she said, Khan hadn’t worried about himself. He was constantly thinking about others.

“He was sitting there and he wasn’t worried about himself. He said he spent all this time thinking, and when he got out — God willing — he was going to do something for seniors. He was just determined to make things better for other people,” she said.

“Never in a million years did I think that he’d be gone today.”

The Oakville North-Burlington riding is also where chiropractor Natalia Lishchyna was engaged in a bitter nomination race in 2014 with then-Conservative MP Eve Adams — who has since defected to the Liberals — which led to an investigation by the Conservative party. In August, just days apart, Lishchyna and Adams announced they were withdrawing from the race.

At the time, Eve Adams cited her continuing recovery from a concussion suffered earlier in the year, but later said she was pushed out.

Eve Adams is now seeking the Liberal nomination in the Toronto riding of Eglinton-Lawrence.

She was unavailable for an interview on Sunday, but sent her condolences in an email through a spokesperson.

“Max Khan was a strong advocate for Oakville. He was a tireless worker and a champion for the community.‎ My heart goes out to his family,” the email read.

With files from Lauren Pelley and Bruce Campion-Smith

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