EDDIE Carrick, the ex-councillor who battled with cancer for more than two years, has lost his fight.

The 66-year-old passed away at his Woodlea Park home in Sauchie on Thursday surrounded by his family.

Eddie had been diagnosed with terminal cancer in May 2010 after it was discovered in his lungs.

Doctors gave him only a year to live, yet the Glasgow-born politician survived for a further year and even stood at May's local government elections.

His wife Valerie (61) said it was his "determination" that kept him going in spite of the illness.

She said, "He would have chemotherapy on the Friday and would be back at work on Monday. Sometimes he pushed it so much he was felled for two days. He felt he could overcome anything.

"He wanted to be at home when it happened. It was peaceful at the end." Eddie will be remembered as promoting the county as a tourist destination, overseeing the re-introduction of trains to Alloa and the regeneration of the town centre.

Valerie went on, "If he got the bit between his teeth, nine out of 10 times he got what he wanted. He wanted to use the power he had to help people.

"Even though he wasn't from this area originally, this became his home." Born in Maryhill, Eddie took his first steps into politics when he was a Labour councillor in Fallin in 1984.

He took an extended hiatus from frontline politics during the 1990s and did not become a councillor again until 2003, a year after he married Valerie and moved to Sauchie, when he stood for Clackmannanshire Council.

That was the start of two consecutive terms in office as part of the Labour administration - re-elected in 2007.

The funeral will take place this Friday September 7 at St Ninian's RC Church at 10am and thereafter to Bannockburn Cemetery. Donations to be made in lieu of flowers to Marie Curie for the support given to Eddie.