Industry figures lauded Mr Murphy, whose Gateshead sheet metal fabrication business R&R Murphy has shone on the national and Hunter awards stage many times, as a trailblazer in innovation.

HunterNet CEO Tony Cade said Mr Murphy had been a committed member of his organisation's family.

"He was an innovator, a forward thinker, a collaborator, a supporter of other SMEs and someone who gave back to the community. He was a trusted and dear friend," said Mr Cade.

HunterNet industry advisor Boris Novak said Mr Murphy "made real progress" in Defence and was "motivated to help our people by doing what he could to give them that unfair advantage, even as a lower visible supplier. "

"So many people agree he was one of the most decent people you could meet in business, or indeed in life."

Hunter Defence taskforce chair Tim Owen said Mr Murphy was "an invaluable spokesman for the business and for the industry."

Mr Murphy met his wife, Rosemarie, in 1971 at the Ford Motor Company in Enfield, in their native England. He did a sheet metal apprenticeship prior to the Ford role before the couple emigrated to Australia in 1981 with two young children.

Mr Murphy worked at Hunter companies including BHP before he and Rosemarie began their firm on a dirt factory floor with another couple. The company initially made Cleanaway bins and road tanker bodies then, after the Murphys took on the business alone in 2004, moved into mining.

Amid a downturn in 2011, it invested in a C&C press and added spray painting and laser cutting to their services and moved into general fabrication in defence.

Mr Cade said Mr Murphy had worked hard to make sure R&R Murphy could operate independently: "Although it will never be business as usual without him, R&R Murphy will continue to operate under the stewardship of Mick Way," he said.

Mr Murphy leaves behind Rosemarie and their children Grant and Zoe.