‘DAD WAS MY ENTIRE WORLD’
‘EVERY DAY I WAKE UP AND REMEMBER HE’S GONE - IT HITS ME SO HARD’
TRIBUTES have been paid to a muchloved dad who died in hospital just hours after developing breathing difficulties.
Malcolm Fife, who was 55, leaves 11 children and 26 grandchildren.
His eldest, Niyomi, pictured with her dad, described him as “one in a million” and the “best dad”.
“Every day I wake up and remember he’s gone and it hits me so hard. He was my entire world,” said Niyomi. “He was such an amazing dad. I can’t believe he’s gone.”
A MUCH-LOVED father, musician and campaigner has died at the age of 55 after being taken ill suddenly.
Malcolm Fife died in hospital just hours after he began to struggle to breathe while visiting one of his daughters.
Malcolm, who was also known in the city as Rudeboy Mali and Selector Malachi, leaves 11 children and 26 grandchildren.
His eldest, Niyomi, described him as “one in a million” and the “best dad” and said he had worked in many ways to improve life for people in his home town.
He was part of the Leicester Anti Knife Crime Project, which was created with the aim of increasing safety on the city’s streets, and was also a campaigner for human rights.
He got involved in the campaign to support the Windrush generation through East Midlands Windrush Connection and spread awareness of black history.
His life was also devoted to music and he worked as a DJ, created his own music and helped organise and promote musical events, supporting local musicians.
Four of his children live in Peterborough, while the other seven have grown up in Leicester.
But Niyomi, 30, said that never stopped Malcolm, who lived in Highfields, from being a great father to all of them.
She said: “It’s a funny family because four of his kids have always been in Peterborough, but we all still grew up together. They would come to Leicester, we would go to Peterborough - so we’re all really close.
“He was there for every one of us loving us, supporting us, raising us to be strong-minded and ambitious.”
She said the family was struggling to come to terms with his sudden death, on Sunday, September 5.
She said: “He died very suddenly. I was at a football match and sending him videos of my son and then a couple of hours later I saw a message that he had gone to hospital.
“He had passed away by the time I got there. I’m told he had been having problems breathing. The hospital said it was pneumonia, but he didn’t know he had it.
“Every day I wake up and remember he’s gone and it hits me so hard. He was my entire world. He was such an amazing dad. I can’t believe he’s gone.”
Fellow Leicester campaigner and 2014 The Voice finalist Bizzi Dixon was a close friend.
He said: “Mali was my best friend for over 30 years and was instrumen tal on various things such as the anti-knife crime campaign, the Windrush campaign and the music awards I did.
“He had an infectious personality and was such a loyal friend - we were around each other a lot but we never once argued. He was very familyoriented and it’s a very sad loss for the whole community.”
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help pay for Malcolm’s funeral.
A memorial fund-raising event, organised by Bizzi, will take place at 2Funky Street Kitchen in New Park Street, off Narborough Road, Leicester, from 6.30pm on Wednesday, September 22.
Entry on the door costs £5 and the money raised will go towards the funeral.
The Go Fund Me fund-raiser hopes to reach a target of £7,000. At the time of writing yesterday afternoon, it stood just short of £5,900.
■ To find the page, search “Niyomi Fife” at: uk.gofundme.com/