Jeffrey Spector, the advertising executive who killed himself by assisted suicide at a clinic in Switzerland, was a member of St Annes Hebrew Congregation in Lancashire.

Synagogue member June Kendall said the Spector family were members of the Orthodox shul.

Mr Spector, who was 54, took a lethal dose of poison at Dignitas clinic in Zurich.

He had decided to take his life because he had an inoperable tumour on his spinal cord which could have left him paralysed from the neck down.

The businessman and father-of-three went against his family’s wishes and secretly joined the assisted suicide clinic some years ago. His remains were due to be brought back to the UK today.

Ms Kendall said: “I can’t believe it. I think he was right to do it. It really goes against the grain. It is not ethically correct but I suppose it is his choice. He has to do what he wants to do. To linger on is terrible.”

Mr Spector was national president of youth group BBYO from 1978-79 .