A committed member of AJEX since 1947, my father Jack Lewis, who has died aged 98, served as its national chairman, treasurer and vice-president. He helped educate young people about the horrors of the Second World War and the Holocaust by visiting schools with other AJEX veterans. He took an active part in the AJEX Annual Parade at the Cenotaph in Whitehall every November, including on his 98th birthday last year.
He was also a proud member of the British Legion, setting up the Roll of Honour and AJEX Follow On. He organised visits to Bergen-Belsen for the 50th and 60th anniversaries of their liberation, and for the 50th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.
Born Jack Zamchick in Brick Lane in the East End of London, his father Mark immigrated from Merepole, Ukraine in 1907, and his mother Rebekah from Siemiatycze, Poland in 1910.
In 1922 his brother, Cyril, was born.
My father became head boy at the Jewish Free School in Bell Lane, north London from 1933-35. Later he attended Robert Montefiore evening classes where he studied journalism and joined the Affiliated Amateur Dramatic Society.
He started work in 1935 as a junior clerk at the Economic Board for Palestine, headed by Sir Robert Whaley Cohen. Having studied the abhorrent and needless slaughter of the First World War, his motto was “to heal, not kill”. In 1938 he enlisted in the Territorial Army, 13th Field Ambulance RAMC, based at Chelsea Barracks.
With the TA he attended a summer camp in 1939 competing in a race against Major Stallard, one of the characters portrayed in the film Chariots of Fire.
His later war service included 21 months in Sierra Leone. He was a battle course instructor before being appointed chief clerk to the Queen Alexandra Military Hospital at Shenley, the UK’s largest military hospital. While posted to India in May 1945, he briefly visited Palestine, meeting former colleagues and gaining a long-lasting impression of the country as it was before the creation of the State of Israel.
Demobbed in April 1946, he took a rehabilitation business study course at City of London College and qualified as a chartered secretary in 1947. Jack met my mother Helen Pinnick the previous year on a blind date arranged by their respective aunts Dora and Ceiley. During their first telephone conversation she asked “Are you tall and can you dance?” Luckily my father had both attributes and they married at Hendon Synagogue on June 29, 1947. They set up home in Howberry Road, Canons Park, where he lived ever since. I was born in 1948 and my sister Barbara in 1951.
My father qualified as a chartered certified accountant in 1950 and entered into partnership with his father-in-law Alf Pinnick the following year. The pair launched their practice in the West End, staying in the same premises until 1975 when moved to their present Edgware office. He was well regarded by his partners, colleagues and staff as the figurehead of the firm during the many years he was practising.
Jack gave much to the Stanmore community over the years, holding several voluntary positions on Stanmore and Canon’s Park Synagogue’s Board of Management, including financial representative, senior warden, elder of the community and honorary life president. He was editor and columnist of the synagogue magazine Habimah for 10 years. In addition, he was a founder member, administrator and active member of the Stanmore Chevra Kadisha.
He enjoyed trips abroad with Helen, especially their visits to Israel and family reunions in America. For many years he would always say that “the next car I buy will be a Bentley”. We thought he was joking, but finally he bought a Bentley S1 Continental, followed several months later by another.
He was a caring and loving son to his parents and after their retirement he bought them the house next door to his own to live in.
Jack looked after Helen following the onset of her dementia until Libby, her carer, took over this role. Since my mother’s death, Libby and her husband Norman took charge of looking after my father.
He is survived by his children, myself and Barbara, my wife Christine and Barbara’s husband Jonathan Kober, two grandchildren, Louise and Mark, five great-grandchildren, Ruby, Zara, Max, Samuel and Leo and extended family.
Helen predeceased him in February, 2016, at the age of 92.
STUART LEWIS
Jack Lewis: born November 18, 1920.
Died May 9 2019
