Yes, Mike will be very sadly missed. He was director of the Comet Section at a key time which included the return of 1P/Halley. Mike edited the BAA Memoir on this comet which was a huge undertaking. We have the Newsletters from that time available online via the link in here and they are a good example of how different observing was in those far off days. The attached pics show Mike with the 25cm reflector he used for his Halley imaging and the 6-inch Cooke that he used for his prominence images that Richard has posted.
British Astronomical Association
Supporting amateur astronomers since 1890