Prominent Hunter businessman Kevin Coffey has been remembered as a vocal, passionate advocate for his community after his sudden death from a heart attack on Thursday, aged 65.
Mr Coffey was behind several major Darby Street initiatives, including The Headphone Project, the Darby Street Community Garden and the laneway alongside Goldbergs.
He was also a board member of the former business improvement association Newcastle Now, and then went on to start a similar movement Newcastle Partnerships.
Mr Coffey ran Darby Street design label Jean Bas with his wife, who the business is named after. He leaves behind Jean, kids Alex, Victoria and Billy, and beloved grandson Freddy.
Nici Palmer from Darby Street wares store Blackbird Corner wrote a moving tribute to Mr Coffey on the 'Darby Street, Newcastle' Facebook page saying she reported his death with "immense sadness".
"He will be incredibly missed by "our Village" as he so fondly called it," she wrote.
Many people also paid tribute to Mr Coffey in the comments, expressing sorrow as well as appreciation for his passion and tenacity.
Speaking to the Herald, Ms Palmer described Mr Coffey as an "inspiration".
"He was loved and admired," she said. "An incredibly passionate man with so many ideas and so much energy to bring those ideas to fruition. Such a loss."
Rowena Foong from clothing store High Tea with Mrs Woo said she knew him when her business was on Darby Street before it moved to the east end in 2020.
"He was very vocal, very passionate," Ms Foong said. "He was basically the spokesperson for Darby Street."
Christine Everingham met Mr Coffey through Newcastle Partnerships, which ran a survey to gauge sentiment about Supercars, and the pair went on to advocate their concern about the race. Dr Everingham said the tragic news was heartbreaking.
"It is so awful," she said. "I just feel really quite devastated he's gone.
"It's a real loss for the broader community."
She described Mr Coffey as "brave" and "forthright".
"I really felt quite brave because of him," she said.
"He did give the people of Newcastle a different voice."
