Former Club President and club doctor Tony Capes has passed away after a short battle with of cancer.

Capes was President from 1982 to 1988, and played an integral part in introducing the league’s first illicit drug code.

Western Bulldogs president Peter Gordon was saddened by 78-year-old Capes’ passing and said the former President and doctor was an important figure in the Club’s history.

“He was a very good man and a very good doctor in and around Footscray,” Gordon told the Herald Sun.

“And he was a great President of the club. He took over at a difficult time early in the 1980s and he really masterminded the resurgence of the club that lead us to getting into the (preliminary) final in 1985 for the first time in a decade.”

“We are very grateful to him and our thoughts are with his family,” Gordon said.