ONE of Falmouth's most familiar faces has died following a short illness.

Big Issue vendor Mark Passell, aged 53, was a regular sight and popular character outside Boots in the town, after first selling the magazine in his native Scotland in the 1990s.

The Big Issue announced the news earlier this week after Mark died in Treliske Hospital, Truro, on Wednesday, September 12.

He had a blood infection and pneumonia.

The Big Issue report said Mark lived a colourful life as a part of the traveller community, including time spent in Brittany in France, Holland and Spain interspersed with spells of selling The Big Issue across the UK.

His ex-partner Hester Blindell – who was the mother of one of Mark’s three children – has penned a touching tribute to Mark.

She said: “I met Mark by his and his friend’s fire pit at Letham festival in 1996. He was in a punk band called Fud Rot and one night when he was due to play, his friends eventually found him dancing his socks off in the gabba tent. We never let him forget it.

“He was very handsome and in a world of hardcore drinking he always made me feel safe. We had both recently started selling the Big Issue and we’d go into Aberdeen to the bottom of Union Street and buy a sausage and egg roll followed by a hot doughnut with chocolate sauce before we started grafting.

“Mark and I separated in 2013 but as always, Mark continued having my back and we remained best friends. I moved to London and Mark stayed in Cornwall where the three of us had lived for some years.

“He sold the Big Issue in Falmouth and over the years built many good relationships with his customers, especially the locals and the nuns. Thankfully he had a great relationship with the charity St Petrocs who continued to support him.

“His relationship with our daughter became even closer, messaging each other every day and eating out every week. She really was his world (closely followed by his dogs Roxy and Cane) and this was often repeated by the staff that cared for him on Roskear Ward at Treliske Hospital. (He had them all wrapped round his little finger!)

“Mark and I both used drink and drugs throughout our lives and we have lost many dear friends, especially over the last year. It was a blood infection, exacerbated by pneumonia that led to his death after three months of illness. He was furious and not at all ready to go! We miss him and love him very much.”

Mark’s funeral will be held at Treswithian Crematorium in Camborne on Wednesday (4pm).

His family has set up a GoFundMe fundraiser to pay for the funeral costs with any extra money raised going towards St Petrocs Society, the Cornwall homelessness charity that helped care for Mark. 

The Big Issue is a multi award-winning magazine, edited by the British Society of Magazine Editors (BSME) current Editor of the Year.