Nigel Williams, who has died less than three years after becoming Northern Ireland's first Children's Commissioner for Children and Young People, came to the job as an authority on children's use of the internet, founder of the London-based charity Childnet International.
A man who related as easily to adolescents as he did to adults, he said his own four children inspired him to explore how the net could safely serve young people, and as a children's advocate. In January, he became the first non-academic to receive the International Federation for Information Processing's Namur award, for work on understanding the social impact of information technology. His crowded career included a four-year stint as a Liberal Democrat councillor.
Williams was born in Devon and brought up in Limavady and Portadown. After studying geography at Cambridge University, he was recruited as a graduate trainee by the Northern Ireland Department of Economic Development, which he left in 1984 to set up a computer training company. While a civil servant he wrote an award- winning series for the Belfast Telegraph on local places to visit, Off the Beaten Track.
Appointed head of public policy for the Westminster-based Care - Christian Action Research and Education - he moved to London with his wife Heather, who works with special needs children, from Newtownhamilton, Co Armagh.
They lived for 15 years in Peckham. An enthusiastic Presbyterian, Williams was active in the local All Saints church and with the Liberal Democrats, serving as a councillor from 1994 to 1998.
Much of his Care work was on protecting children from danger and pornography. He wrote a book, False Images, on the subject and in 1995 founded Childnet to run advice websites for children and conferences on the risks and benefits of the net.
He always insisted that the information technology provided was essentially positive and that parents should recognise the benefit to their children from what he called this "parallel universe". He became a board member of the Internet Watch Foundation and the Internet Content Rating Association and in 2001, was appointed to the British Home Secretary's task force on child protection on the internet.
In June 2003, after an innovative public selection process involving young people, he was appointed as the first Northern Commissioner for Children and Young People. He moved with the family to Glenarm, Co Antrim.
He created a team to work on areas as diverse as mental health and anti-social behaviour orders and began reviews of direct work with children and young people in several areas and of provision in speech and language therapy. He commissioned a review by Queen's University, Belfast, of children's social and human rights in education and health, including the position of refugee and asylum-seeking children.
He continued to work until February.
Among the many tributes posted to the commissioner's website, several remarked on his attendance at functions while ill and the particular care he took to listen to any young people present. Clionagh Boyle, director of Derry Children's Commission, said he had "more respect for the voice of a child than an adult with influence". He had "laughter and gravitas in equal measure", said Geraldine O'Kane, Unicef education officer (NI). Tributes for Williams have come from those working with Traveller children, the Jewish community, young people in care, the Children's Hospice which he visited, from Dublin-based commissioner Emily Logan, and colleagues doing similar work in many other countries.
One of the young people who interviewed him for his job, Nicola Haslett, said he was exactly what was wanted because he valued the views of the young. Claire McCambly of the commissioner's youth panel said he had taught her "not to let anyone look down" on her because of her age.
An admiring American obituarist noted how swiftly he became popular with his peers. Larry Magid, CBS specialist in California on concerns about children and the internet, said Williams had "an impact on every child who uses the internet or carries a cell phone. He spent over 10 years working to promote the safe use of technology for children, for the past three years from the vantage point of government."
To demonstrate how positive the net could be, Magid said, Williams had also launched Childnet International awards for internet projects by young people from every continent. Award-winners supported wounded child soldiers in Africa, childcare givers in Ireland and victims of cyber- bullying in Canada.
He remained a prolific writer on the internet during his three years in the Northern Ireland post, and was a consultant on the children's book, 101 Things to Do on the Internet.
He was buried after a service in Cairncastle Presbyterian church, Co Antrim.
The Rev Anne Tolland said that despite the short time his family had lived there, they had a big impact on the congregation and their perception of the role of young people. Following the order of service Williams himself had planned, the walls of the ancient church were illuminated by images relayed by computer, including humorous shots of him as enthusiastic climber and walker. He is survived by his wife and four children.
Nigel Williams, born January 21st, 1955; died March 26th, 2006.