THE untimely death of Steffan Lewis at just 34 years old has robbed a family of a father, husband, son and brother, and Wales of one of its most talented and promising politicians.

There are many people who knew him far better than I did, but the Steffan Lewis I knew was a man I had great admiration and respect for, and one of a small handful of politicians I genuinely liked and looked forward to having a chat with.

His cheeky sense of humour was no small part of that - I remember him materialising in my Assembly office berating me for daring to take a few days off when there were important political matters afoot.

But when it came down to business few did it better.

While the Assembly is downright civilised compared with Parliament, anyone who has the pleasure of tuning into Senedd proceedings on a regular basis will know it’s not uncommon to see AMs using their opportunities to speak to to take political pot-shots at their opponents on the other side the chamber, adding little of substance.

Not Steffan Lewis. When he spoke up you knew it would be relevant, insightful and expressed without political grandstanding.

The fact that the much-lauded EU Continuity Bill - an idea later poached by Scotland - was his idea speaks volumes. In this politically-divided world it’s not often a government led by one party will adopt an idea put forward by another wholesale.

But the fact that Carwyn Jones’ Welsh Government took the idea and ran with it, making no secret of the fact that it was an idea created by Steffan Lewis, says a lot about how much he was respected across the board.

Steffan could have kicked up a fuss, accusing the government of poaching his idea and claiming credit for it, but he didn’t because he know it was what was best for the country he loved.

That’s not to say he wasn’t Plaid through-and-through. He joined the party at 11 - setting a precedent for getting involved in politics early - and often said he believed he would see an independent Wales in his lifetime. That he didn’t live to see that dream realised would surely have been one of his greatest regrets.

Aged 32 when he was first elected to the Assembly in May 2016, he was for a time the youngest AM in Wales - an honour later supplanted by Jack Sargeant when he was elected to succeed his father Carl in February last year - but was more politically savvy than most twice his age.

He was often tipped as a potential future leader of Plaid Cymru, or even future first minister, and it’s clear he had a long and bright career ahead of him.

The fact that he died just two and a half years after being elected for the first time is a deep injustice.

Call it denial if you like, but when he announced he was ill in December 2017 it didn’t cross my mind for a moment that he wouldn’t get better.

No one would have blamed him if he had packed it in and focused on his treatment full-time.

But he kept working, appearing in the Assembly almost as often as he did before he found he had cancer. Indeed - the continuity bill was an idea born and developed while he was having treatment.

Having spent years in the background of the party as a researcher and, for a time, Leanne Wood’s speechwriter, Steffan was deeply proud to have been elected to represent the region he called home.

There was only one thing he was more proud of - and that was being a dad.

He once told me the day he was sworn in as AM while holding his son Celyn in his arms was one of the proudest days of his life.

And of course the most tragic part of this story is that there’s a three-year-old boy who’ll have to grow up without his dad.

And it’s his family we should really think of.

There are no words which can make a situation like this better, but I hope they can take some comfort in how loved and respected he was.

We are much, much poorer without him.