A dying professor has paid tribute to his elderly wife after she was killed when a bus hit her in Oxford Street.

Grandmother-of-three Susan Causey, 78, was the full-time carer for her cancer-stricken husband Andrew at their home in Stratford Villas, Camden Town, before the tragic accident.

She died in hospital after being struck by a route 137 bus near the Selfridges department store on Tuesday, June 10.

It was a devastating shock for Mr Causey, 74, a former art history professor at Manchester University, who is confined to his bed and may have just days to live.

Paying tribute this week, he described his wife as a “fantastic” woman and spoke of his immense admiration for her achievements.

Having started out in journalism and publishing, she became an expert on Russian culture.

She worked for the Prince of Wales International Business Leaders Forum, travelling back and forth between the UK and Russia to build links between cultural institutions.

Before becoming choked up with emotion and unable to speak, Mr Causey told the Ham&High: “She started as a journalist for The Illustrated London News, as I did, and that’s how we met.

“In 1972, we went to Manchester and she started a course in Russian. That became her career, really. I was full of admiration for her – she pursued the whole thing from beginning to end. She was fantastic.”

The couple lived in Primrose Hill before moving to Manchester. They returned to Camden in 1991.

Mr Causey was unable to attend his wife’s funeral last Thursday because of his ill health.

Leo Causey, 42, one of their two sons, has “dropped everything” and moved from his home in Bath to care for his father.

The engineer and father-of-three said his father’s condition has “gone downhill fast” since his mother’s death.

He said: “She was a great mum and the one I would turn to for love and wisdom.

“She was very determined. She took on the Russian very late and was incredibly successful. She learned the language and co-ordinated cultural exchanges with Saint Petersburg.

“She could just achieve things. She took on stuff that seemed mad at the time and made a total success of it. She will be sorely missed by a great many people.”

Police are appealing for witnesses to the accident, at about 2.50pm on June 10, to come forward. A post-mortem gave the cause of death as head injuries. The bus driver was not arrested.

n Anyone with information is asked to call the Serious Collision Investigation Unit on 020 8543 5157.