Mr Knight, who was also a British and New Zealand dual national, was found dead in his Karon hotel room by room service staff on November 1. (See story here.)
“Monks will begin their mass from about midday or 12:30 and will continue until 1pm, when the cremation will take place,” said friend Peter Notley.
“All friends and acquaintances welcome,” he added.
Mr Knight was an active and successful real-estate agent in Queensland for many years,” said Mr Notely.
“I met him when he came to Phuket to work for Raimon Land on The Heights project nearly six years ago,” he said.
“Rod was a very likeable extrovert, a little crazy, but with some great marketing ideas. In his spare time he taught English in several Phuket locations, very often for free. He was also a great handyman and loved cycling, including some mega-expeditions around Phang Nga and Krabi with a bunch of expat cyclists.”
Rod had been ill with bone cancer for many years and was, to some extent, a miracle of modern medicine who had received some ground-breaking treatment from the medics in Brisbane, Mr Notley explained.
“In recent years he’d also developed a heart problem, and was due to be treated for that, but another cancer reared its ugly head and that took precedence over the heart procedure he was due to receive,” he said.
“Possibly ill-advisedly, he nipped over to his beloved Phuket for the Vegetarian Festival, in which he’d often helped out by serving food in various temples. He also loved Kata beach and was relaxing there, prior to returning to Brisbane for more treatment, when he died.
“His indomitable spirit always had him in first gear and positive to the very end. He will be greatly missed by his many friends in Phuket. RIP Rod.”
For those attending the funeral services tomorrow, Wat Thepkrasattri, also known as Wat Don, is approx 1.9km down the Thalang-Laguna road from the Thalang crossroads. (See map below.)
For more details of the funeral services, call Peter Notley at 089-6521951.