Charles Jencks, co-founder of Maggie's Cancer Care Centres, died this week aged 80

Tributes have been paid to the co-founder of a cancer care charity.

Charles Jencks, architecture historian, landscape architect and director of Maggie's Cancer Care Centres died this week at the age of 80.

Jencks co-founded Maggie's Cancer Care Centres in 1995. To continue the legacy of his late wife Maggie Keswick Jencks, the charity commissions major architects to design comforting places of respite for those afflicted by cancer, as well as their friends and family.

There are now 26 Maggie's Centres in Scotland, England and Wales and a further three in Barcelona, Hong Kong and Tokyo. Many have won awards for their designs and have been collectively called the "architecture of hope" by a leading design charity.

Chief executive of Maggie's Centres Dame Laura Lee said: "Charles' commitment to Maggie's was really remarkable on many fronts. He was committed to making sure that our buildings were architecturally excellent and the best.

"But on top of that he was always pushing for the care to be the best that it possibly could be in every single centre that Maggie's operates from.

"I think he's left a remarkable legacy that I hope his family will see endure."