A former captain of his hometown club at Melton Mowbray RFC, back-rower Kempin joined Tigers in 1974 and made his debut in a fixture against Oxford University in October of that year.
Kempin made 109 appearances for the club, including 35 in succession from the start of the 1976/77 season, and played his last game for Tigers against Moseley in April 1979. He scored 15 tries.
Tigers executive director Peter Wheeler, a team-mate throughout Kempin’s time with the club, said: “Jim, as a flanker and as a man, was robust and rustic rather than cultured and flamboyant. He was solid, grafting and utterly dependable.
“He was a good man to have within the team and the Club.
“You could see and feel that he enjoyed the company of his mates, just as you could see and feel the pride and love that he had for Annie and his family.
“As team-mate Garry Adey so aptly put it when breaking the news of Jim’s death ‘Well done Jim, you did brill’.”
