A funeral service will be held later this week for former Austbrokers executive Nigel Thomas, who died suddenly while on a family holiday in Thailand.

Mr Thomas, 54, who left AUB Group last year before starting his own consultancy, is believed to have suffered a heart attack.

His funeral takes place at 10.45am on Friday at the Northern Suburbs Memorial Gardens, 199 Delhi Road, North Ryde, Sydney. Everyone is welcome.

At 1pm the same day a celebration of Nigel’s life will be held at Manly Pavilion, with family and friends welcome to attend.

National Insurance Brokers Association CEO Dallas Booth told insuranceNEWS.com.au Mr Thomas was “highly respected, not just in the AUB Group, but broadly right across broking”.

“It is a very sad loss,” he said.

Friends say Mr Thomas, who leaves wife Belinda and three children, was a much-loved member of the broking industry who will be sadly missed.

“It defies logic, because he was such a fit and healthy guy,” Austbrokers AEI Transport MD Tim Wedlock told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

“He was into swimming, lifesaving and surfing. He was a real family man and our thoughts are with his family at this time. We are going to miss him dearly.”

Mr Thomas joined AUB in 2013 but his position of Austbrokers Divisional Chief Executive was made redundant last year. He had previously worked at Hunter Premium Funding for more than a decade.