Jim, Ireland's most respected and popular show promoter lost a brief battle with cancer and passed away at his home in the city.

The former trainee priest, schoolteacher and larger than life farmer's son from Jonesborough, turned to concert promotion when still a young man and had a spectacular career north and south of the border over more than four decades, during which he was befriended by international artists and musicians.

But just before he died Jim, who was my closest friend, told me: "I want to be remembered especially as a good husband and a good father. Family has been more important to me than anything else."

He was married to his wife Anne for 46 years and he is survived by her and their only son Peter - who has also succeeded as a promoter in his own right - daughters Claire, Cathy, Susan and Joan and 11 grandchildren.

Jim, whose passion was to see normality restored in his native province, was a peacemaker whose concerts, especially at the King's Hall, time and again brought both sides of the community together in harmony through music. This was in spite of the few nights when events were disrupted by bomb scares and were either delayed or even called off.

"There was so much I still wanted to do," Jim told me, "but I will go with no regrets. I enjoyed my time at Maynooth College, but I would not have made a good priest. I would have looked after the bingo and the entertainment for my flock and not been so good on the spiritual side and getting folk into heaven.

"However, I say a little prayer every morning and I thank the Almighty for giving me time to say goodbye to everyone who matters to me. My time spent in training as a cleric is paying off for me now."

It was in 1976 that Jim brought light relief back to Belfast where the theatres were shuttered and the streets deserted after nightfall.

He made a pilgrimage to a theatre in Waterloo, Iowa, where country star Charley Pride was appearing, knocked on the stage door on a wintry night and after much discussion persuaded Pride to sign up for a Belfast date with some misgivings.

Charley came to play the old Ritz Cinema in Fisherwick Place and his presence acted as a spur to other well-known artists who quickly followed in spite of the terrorist campaign.

The Rolling Stones, Cliff Richard, Tina Turner, Nana Mouskouri, Tom Jones, Kylie Minogue, Shirley Bassey, Cher, Rod Stewart, Glenn Campbell, Take That, Roy Orbison, Willie Nelson, Leo Sayer, David Essex, Demis Roussous, Dolly Parton, Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings, are just a few of the stars who followed Charley's example and turned up for Jim on this island.

And there was the unforgettable night at the Ulster Hall when Led Zeppelin played their Stairway to Heaven for the first time.

"Jim was a man you couldn't say no to," said Charley Pride.

"He and I became special friends after he made that long trip in puddle jumpers to see me in an out of the way place. And when I was in Ireland last November he toured every date with me. Then just after Christmas he was a guest at my 50th wedding anniversary."

It was soon after returning from that final American trip that Jim became ill and was diagnosed with terminal cancer.

Jim rated his promotion of superstar Bruce Springsteen in the open air at Lord Henry Mount Charles' Slane Castle on the banks of the Boyne in front of an audience of 65,000 as his most memorable concert.

Closely followed by his initiative in bringing country superstar Garth Brooks to both Dublin and Belfast after he had tracked him to Fargo just like he had done with Pride in Iowa.

But he was also proud of opening up the grounds of Stormont to music and song - with the help of the late Secretary of State Mo Mowlam - first of all with Elton John and then Pavarotti, the Eagles and Michael Flatley.

On the Saturday of the Pavarotti concert it rained all day and plans were already being made for the maestro to stop over another day to perform on the Sunday when suddenly two hours before curtain up the sun came out and the clouds passed over.

"It was a kind of miracle," said Jim. "That concert gave me my greatest headache but it was an occasion that always crops up in conversation."

His career really began in the showband era with the Royal Showband and when he put on weekly dances at the old Orpheus Ballroom in York Street, Belfast and continued at the Boom Boom Room in Cornmarket where he had a young Englebert Humperdinck and then the late Frankie Vaughan and at the Celebrity Club in Wellington Place and sometimes at the Floral Hall where he put on top English acts like Marty Wilde and jazzman Kenny Ball.

It was this man Jim too who persuaded the Gaelic Association to open up their Croke Park in Dublin – which is now opening its gates to rugby and association football - to music. Neil Diamond was the first major artist to play there followed by many other homebred and American stars.

Jim was a generous man with a big heart who loved to see local talents like Van Morrison, Rory Gallagher, Gary Moore and Daniel O'Donnell flourishing.

Paul Charles, a Magherafelt native who is now head of the huge Asgard Promotion Agency in London said: "Jim Aiken was the original, the first show promoter, the one the rest of us were inspired by."

And Belfast promoter David Hull added: "Mr Aiken gave me a lot of good advice and gave me time out of his busy schedule and I will never forget him. "

My own personal memories of Jim stretch to places like Chicago where we once went searching for a street Frank Sinatra mentioned in a song; Nashville where we stood together on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry; Vienna where we listened to a Strauss orchestra and Paris where we were entertained by Elton John.

But my abiding thoughts of Jim centre on a downtown Belfast coffee house where we met once a week - when he wasn't flying off in search of another star for the Odyssey or the Waterfront - to empty a few cups and solve the problems of our native land.

Our chats were wide ranging and I always came away afterwards feeling better for the good conversation that had passed between us. He made me feel like the most important journalist in the land and I hope I inspired him to keep on working in harmony with his son Peter to sign major acts to Ireland instead of putting his feet up in retirement.

Only a short time before his death Jim was working with Peter on a visit this summer to Belfast by Sir Elton John and plans for a Gary Moore concert.

His passing is leaving a huge gap in my life and I know just a little of the grief Anne, Peter and the girls are feeling now.