A FIANCÉE has paid a touching tribute to her husband-to-be after he tragically died the week before their wedding.

Popular journalist, former South Wales Argus news and sub editor Alex Kalinik passed away on Saturday. He was in his thirties.

He and his partner Katy Jones were due to be married this weekend at Llanerch Vineyard in the Vale of Glamorgan.

She said: “When I first met Alex, I was struck by how genuine he was, by his wit, his warmth and massive capacity for both useful and useless facts. He took a real interest in pretty much everything and cared deeply for his family and friends.

“As our relationship progressed these attributes continued to impress me, along with his mastery of words, his incredible thoughtfulness and his cheesy jokes. He made me laugh so much.”

Born in Basingstoke, Alex lived in Cardiff and was immensely proud of his Welsh heritage, being a keen rugby and wrestling fan.

Katy said: “He loved sport, with a particular passion for supporting the Welsh rugby team and travelled to New Zealand to support them with his Dad for the 2011 World Cup.

“He loved travel and we had the holiday of a lifetime in Canada last year, where he asked me to marry him, which will always be one of my happiest memories.

“He also wanted to make the world a better place to live in and involved himself in politics to that end.

“The thing about Alex I cherished the most was his infectious enthusiasm (he got ridiculously excited at Christmas time and would wear a Christmas jumper/shirt every day of December) and the incredible belief he had in others. He was one of a kind.

“On the 2nd June, I lost my soulmate and it has broken my heart and the hearts of his family and friends.”

Alex spent around 10 years at the Argus and its parent company Newsquest before leaving in 2016 to become head of press for Wales Stronger In Europe and then an internal communications specialist for Tata Steel in Port Talbot.

A much-loved figure, tributes have been pouring from his many friends and old colleagues who will desperately miss him.

South Wales Argus editor Nicole Garnon said: “Alex will be greatly missed by us here.

"He was a gentle and clever young man with a quick and dry wit and great ability.

“Our thoughts go out to his family, his many friends and of course to Katy.”

Chris Kirwan, a sports writer on the Argus who first got to know Alex when they did their post-graduate diplomas in journalism at De Montfort University in Leicester in 2003/4, said: “He had a talent for feature writing and an insatiable desire for a pun, so perhaps it wasn’t surprising that he became a sub editor to sneak a few into the papers.

“I was so pleased when our paths crossed again at the Argus a couple of years later, laughing with him about comedy shows and laughing at him when it came to his blind loyalty to Wales at rugby.

“He was just a funny bloke who was easy to get along with and great company, all of us that somehow managed to get through that course at De Montfort will remember him fondly.”