Graham Cornick, the award-winning co-founder of an animal rescue charity in Surrey, has died, his family have announced.

Mr Cornick, 80, set up Hydestile Resident Animals rescue centre, near Godalming, with his wife, Lyn in the late 1970s.

His family said Mr Cornick was “the genuine article” who died “peacefully” at his home overlooking the wildlife hospital he created.

His son, Orson, said: “I would often say that my dad would care for any animal without caring whether it was ugly or beautiful; each one got the same treatment and the same love.”

The Cornicks set up Hydestile Wildlife Hospital in 1978 after they found a deer that had been injured a road accident.

Later establishing a charitable trust and changing the organisation’s name, the couple were awarded a lifetime achievement award at the International Fund for Animal Welfare 2021 Animal Action Awards.

Orson Cornick said his father had helped “countless” animals as well as influencing, supporting and teaching many people too.

He said: “I cannot imagine a life without him or a world that doesn’t contain his infectious silliness, warmth and love.”

Mr Cornick was a heating engineer by trade, but his love for animals was apparent from an early age.

When he was six, he and his brother Barry reared and released an injured thrush his parents had brought back to their Feltham home.

His son said his father “came from nothing to become a pioneer in wildlife rehabilitation whose legacy will be seen for years to come, if not forever”.

“I love him with all my heart and I am just thankful that I knew him, let alone being able to call him my dad,” he said.