Doctors have been unable to establish the cause of the sudden death of Aldbourne scientist Dr Mark Davies, 47, two days before he was due to take a leading role in a village production.

Dr Davies died in his sleep on Wednesday last week at the family home at Woodsend.

An inquest has been opened but a post mortem failed to reveal the cause of his death.

His wife, Dr Sandy Muirhead, said it was being treated as sudden adult death syndrome, which the charity Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) believes kills up to 600 people a year.

Dr Muirhead, an Aldbourne parish councillor, is also a PhD and retained her maiden name. They have two daughters, aged 15 and 12.

She said they had gone to bed on Tuesday night and about 4am she was awoken by her husband making a noise and then discovered he was not breathing. She dialled 999 and attempted rescucitation without success.

Dr Muirhead said her husband had been in perfect health, loved running and helped organise the annual Aldbourne 10k run.

A cup for the first villager home in the next race is to be presented in his memory.

Dr Davies ran a water treatment business with his brother Owen, which they started in 2000 and built up to employ about 20 scientists around the country.

He and his wife had worked in different parts of the world and in 1989 she was working in Nova Scotia, and recovering in hospital from an operation for a burst appendix and peritonitis, when he proposed down the phone.

Dr Davies threw himself into village life, said his wife, and became involved with the Aldbourne Light Entertainment Club, taking part in numerous productions, including the lead in Jesus Christ Superstar.

He was due to play a leading part in the Malt House Man, by local playwright Malcolm Shuttleworth, based on a play put on in the village in 1910 and due to be presented in the Malt House last Thursday and Friday.

It has been postponed. His younger daughter, Carys, who also had a part, hopes to carry on when it is eventually performed, her mother said. Dr Davies also played guitar in the band Wickstead Solution.

The funeral will be private but there will be a thanksgiving service in St Michael’s Church, Aldbourne, on Wednesday, at 2pm and there will be a collection for CRY.

See also his obituary