A FORMER York schoolboy who represented his country at weightlifting has died in the gym from a massive heart attack, aged only 41.

Friends and family today paid tribute to Danny Cox - who led a rich and fulfilling life, but one cut tragically and unexpectedly short.

Danny Cox began weightlifting when he was 13, following in his father's footsteps, and in 1981 at the age of 16 he received the trophy as top schoolboy weightlifter in Yorkshire and the North East of England.

It was the first of many individual and team awards he would achieve, including international caps for Great Britain and several national divisional titles.

Danny was born in Liverpool, but his parents, Brian and Paddy, moved to Fulford, York, when he was just three. Apart from a year the family spent in Sunderland, he was raised in Fulford with his younger sister and brother, Nicola and Eddie.

He attended St George's RC Primary School and then Archbishop Holgate's School before studying engineering at Leeds University.

Fellow weightlifters believed Danny might well have competed at the highest level of the sport, but he was bitten by the travel bug and this affected the time he could spend training.

As a young boy he read one of his mother's books - Seven Years In Tibet by Heinrich Harrar - and this inspired him to travel to China and try to reach Tibet. It was the first of many trips to the Far East.

A committed Christian, Danny was a trustee for Sharing Christ Internationally (SCI) which is a UK-based charity that supports the translation and publication of the bible in Mongolia.

Danny married Kathryn in 2002 and settled in Norfolk.

They did a round-the-world tour for their honeymoon including USA, Easter Island, New Zealand and Australia.

At the time of his death, Danny, was working for BT near Ipswich, and still kept up his weightlifting and his passion for motorbikes.

He had been training in a local gym when he collapsed and died from a massive heart attack.

An autopsy revealed the cause was familial hypercholesteroiaemia, a genetic condition resulting in the excessive natural production of cholesterol blocking the arteries of the heart.

Danny's parents separated when he was a teenager and his father, Brian, now lives in Scotland.

His sister, Nicola Mark, a qualified teacher and psychotherapist, lives with her husband, Gus, and their young children, Kellen and Cally, in Brighton. Paddy Cox still lives in York, as does her younger son, Eddie.

Among her most treasured memories is a trip she took with Danny to New York in 1997.

She said: "He was, as one might say, a real character.

"He was fiercely loyal and a wonderful, supportive son and brother.

"We will all miss him as part of our whole family and we will give all love and support to Kathryn who he has left behind far too soon.

"Danny was a committed Christian, who followed God throughout his life.

"He lived his faith through his care for other people and reading and studying his Bible was an important part of this faith."