As mourners farewelled Stephen Hawking, across the city he'd organised an incredible gift.

Thousands lined the streets to farewell world-renowned physicist Stephen Hawking in Cambridge on Saturday.

And in a gorgeous turn of events, at the same time, just a few kilometres away, the city’s most in-need men and women tucked into a plentiful lunch, paid for by the scientist himself.

“Today’s lunch is a gift from Stephen,” a card on the centre table of FoodCycle’s event at Wesley Church read. It was a special lunch for homeless people, provided entirely by the Hawking family in memory of the 76-year-old.

“We’re so grateful to the Hawking family for their generous donation so we could give our guests an extra special #Easter meal yesterday,” the charity tweeted their thanks.

“We had a little cheer in honour of Stephen Hawking before tucking in.”

As well as a warm lunch, the men and women were also treated to gifts from the Hawking family, with charity worker Alex Collis telling BBC: “They wanted to do something to support people going through a tough time.

“It was a really lovely gesture.”

Listen to the Mamamia Out Loud team discuss Stephen Hawking’s legacy. Post continues.

Hawking died in mid-March after a long-running battle with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, which he was diagnosed with at the age of 22.

In a statement to the press, Hawking’s three children shared: “He once said, ‘it would not be much of a universe if it wasn’t home to the people you love’.

“We will miss him forever.”