A Cambridge man hit and killed by a car Thursday evening is being remembered as a family man, a good neighbour and a soccer fan.

The crash occurred around 6:30 p.m. on Highway 85, approximately half a kilometre north of the overpass near the St. Jacobs Farmers Market.

Police say 79-year-old Jose Brasil, of Cambridge, was driving northbound on Highway 85 when he attempted to make a U-turn and got stuck in the centre ditch.

“Some people stopped to assist him but for some unknown reason, he appeared to have wandered into a live lane of traffic and was then struck by a vehicle,” Waterloo Regional Police spokesperson Olaf Heinzel tells CTV News.

Brasil ended up on the roadway and was struck and killed by an oncoming car.

The driver of the car, a 64-year-old woman from Woolwich Township, was taken to hospital with minor injuries.

The highway was closed for approximately five hours.

Family members say Brasil was a family man who might come across as quiet and stern, but was actually very funny and chatty.

“He’s a man that is very easily liked. He’d get along with anybody,” says longtime neighbour John Roscoe.

Police say alcohol is not believed to be a factor in the crash.