Canon John Thurmer writes:
THE Very Revd Richard Montague Stephens Eyre, 67th Dean of Exeter (1981-95), died on 12 December 2012, aged 83.

After Charterhouse and Oriel College, Oxford, he went to St Stephen's House, where Arthur Couratin left a strong impression on him, if not as strong as the Principal would have wished. Like so many prelates, Richard started at Portsea, but soon moved over the border to Chichester, where the long and memorable episcopate of George Bell had just ended.

Here, Richard was on the staff of the theological college under Cheslyn Jones (like Bell, a powerful influence), and was then Chaplain of Eastbourne College, where his interest in residential schools gained solid experience.

But he was to move decisively away from sector ministries by becoming Vicar of Arundel, where ordinary parish duties had the extra dimension of Bernard Marmaduke, 16th Duke of Norfolk, and the Duchess Lavinia, a mixed marriage to add to the historical relationship of the castle with the parish church. The encounter seems to have been fruitful, saying much for the Vicar's tact and skill.

After a parish in Brighton, he became Archdeacon of Chichester, and a cathedral residentiary. In later years, he spoke of an archdeacon's work as uncongenial, and it is likely that he narrowly escaped episcopacy. But his experience at Chichester led him to welcome the call to another Old Foundation cathedral further west.

It may be that Devonians and Richard took a little time to get used to one another. But he became sufficiently acclimatised to stay in the south-west after retirement - apart, indeed, from a spell ministering to expatriates in the south of France.

The emphasis of his decanate might be placed on the spiritual life of the cathedral. Himself a sought-after spiritual director, both in Exeter and London, his example and leadership saw beyond the necessary fund-raising, the cultural and social pressures, to the heart of the faith. The daily services were regularly attended by the Dean and his colleagues. The Royal Maundy in 1983, notable as it was, should not, he said, push aside the devout observance of Holy Week.

When it was clear that the Sunday eucharist had outgrown the quire, its usual home, he led the move to the great nave, hoping to reproduce there something of the spirituality of the quire, with an accessible central altar, for which the Devon Weavers Spinners and Dyers gave a unique carpet illustrating the faith.

The Cathedral Tapisers worked a series of mounded cushions for the whole length of the nave plinth, telling the history of the cathedral in word and picture. A shrine of the Blessed Virgin Mary, with votive candles, encouraged prayer in the Lady Chapel.

Early in the decanate, the scarlet of the cathedral cassocks engaged the Dean's attention. For some years, this had been assumed appropriate for a royal foundation (attributed to Edward the Confessor in 1050). But, as polite but firm letters from the Lord Chamberlain now stated, scarlet was the livery of clerics of the Royal Household, from which others, even foundations, should desist. Exeter (and others) eventually did desist. The Queen, in recognition of the cost involved, graciously gave the Dean and residentiaries new cassocks in another colour; and others would conform when existing garments needed replacement.

Finance weighs heavily on every Dean. Exeter already had its Preservation Trust, funding on- going work on the fabric. To this was now added a Music Foundation Trust, a development close to the heart of the musical Eyres. In the 1990s, girls were admitted to the Cathedral School, and a cathedral girls' choir was created.

The Eyres lived in the Deanery, historic and inconvenient. They proposed and executed the boldest plan to date to increase its domestic and general usefulness. But a later dean wished to live elsewhere, and the Deanery is now the diocesan office.

In the 1990s, a revised governance of cathedrals resulted from the Howe Commission, leading to some diminution in the historic supremacy of the dean and chapter. Richard retired before most of the changes came into effect. While no one should underestimate the remarkable continuity of English cathedrals, he could also be said to be the end of an era.

Richard married Anne, daughter of Brian Bentley, Canon of Windsor. She and two daughters survive him.