Pugh was a 40-year veteran of the exhibitions business and spent 14 years at Reed Exhibitions, working on multiple Ipexes during his time as operations director there, before setting up his own business. 

He was also instrumental in the smooth running of the Ipex Daily projects produced by the Printweek team at the show.

In a tribute, his family said: “Although this has come as a great shock to everyone, Geoff passed away peacefully at the family home in Solihull and will be lovingly remembered by his wife Lynda, his two children Michela and Stephen and his first grandchild, Rory.

“We all loved him and we will miss him but ‘The show must go on’.”

Former IIR print group director Trevor Crawford said: “So sad to hear this terrible news. I had the enormous pleasure of working with Geoff on several large scale and bespoke events, including Ipex, Food Matters Live and Ecobuild to name a few. I’ll never forget how supportive and helpful Geoff and indeed Steph were to me and those teams. He will be hugely missed.”

Neil Handforth, who was joint managing director of the Knight Organisation for nearly 30 years, was also among those to pay tribute on LinkedIn: “My condolences to Geoff’s family on the sad news of his passing. Worked with Geoff on many Ipex groups and he was always so helpful and a pleasure to work with. RIP Geoff.”

For the past 24 years Pugh ran Proj-X4 Exhibition & Events alongside his fellow director Stephanie Smith. 

The funeral service and wake will take place on 11 October in Solihull. All are welcome and anyone wishing to attend is asked to contact Stephen Pugh via LinkedIn.