This is indeed bad news.
I only met Ivan properly the once when he attended out Champion of Champions match in 1998. He was delighted that I'd remembered him and had invited him to take part, but how could you ignore a legend? My only worry was would he be fit enough to travel and then fish. No worries, his wife (Lynda if I remember or if not then Margaret, I'm confused) took good care of him and made sure he didn't overstretch himself.
In the evening after the match we had a champagne buffet, it was fantastic with all manner of coarse fish on the menu. After that, Ivan came over to our table and must have spent the best part of an hour chatting to me on his knees. I remember thinking - this is a world class angler, would any pro-golfer be doing this with a common nobody like me?
The day after he was supposed to fish in our Marlow Rose Bowl Open, but he'd spent too long on his knees and his legs were by then playing up. He came to the venue and wished everyone well though, such a brilliant man he was. He also won Peter Stones heart that day.
When I'd asked how old he was now he said soemthing like 29. I laughed, but he explained that the heart he had been given would have been that age and so when he had the operation he set the clock back. One of the greatest anglers of our time, he will be very sadly missed and my deepest condolences go to his wife and family.