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Tributes pour in following death of National Housing Federation employee and councillor
Housing and local government figures have expressed their shock and sadness at the passing of John Pierce, who has died at the age of 40.
Mr Pierce, a local councillor in Tower Hamlets and campaigns manager at the National Housing Federation (NHF), passed away last week.
He had spent 16 years working at the NHF, starting out as a communications assistant and working his way up to the role of campaigns manager. He had also represented the Bethnal Green Weavers Ward in Tower Hamlets since 2012.
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Kate Henderson, chief executive of the NHF, said: “John was loved and respected by everyone at the NHF. We feel lucky to have been able to call John a colleague and a friend. He brought passion, creativity, professionalism and fun to each project he worked on over his 16 years with us, and we are devastated by his death.
“From successfully campaigning to stop energy companies over-charging on pre-payment meters and being a driving force behind Homes for Britain, to playing a critical role in shoring up the future of supported housing by creating the Starts at Home campaign, John was motivated to make people’s lives better at every single turn. He was quite simply a very special and talented person.
“John will be missed enormously by all of us at the NHF and we are thinking of his family and everyone who loved him through this difficult time.”
Tower Hamlets mayor John Biggs and council speaker Mohammed Ahbab Hossain in a joint statement said: “We all know that John was a deeply committed local councillor, as well as a greatly caring person.
“You will hear in the coming weeks of his other activities in the community where he had made his home among us. Our thoughts are with his family at this time and we ask that everyone respects their privacy.”
The Weavers Ward branch of the Tower Hamlets Labour Party said it is “heartbroken” at the news of Mr Pierce’s sudden passing.
The group added: “John loved this ward very much and he has served it with dedication since 2014. He always had a smile and a kind word and he touched many lives.”
Update at 02:00pm, 15.06.21: story corrected to clarify that Mr Pierce became an elected councillor in 2012, not 2014.
