Obituaries
Thomas RSA (h, 1953-1958) On 8.7.2016 Richard Stephen Alban Thomas, FRCS. At Radley he was a House Prefect, winner of the Sixth Form Declamation Prize in 1958 and Hon. Secretary of the Play Reading Society. He was a member of the 1st Rugby XV in 1957, the 1st Cricket XI in 1958 and the 1st Hockey XI in 1957 and 1958 when he was Captain. He was in the Squash and Golf teams. He went up to Pembroke College, Cambridge, and on to St. Bartholomew’s Hospital before becoming an ENT surgeon. He played Hockey for Wales from 1963 to 1969 and later was Honorary Medical Officer for the GB Hockey Team from 1978 to 1987. He was Honorary ENT Surgeon for the British Olympic Association from 1988 to 1992. He was Consultant ENT Surgeon at the Leicester Royal Infirmary and an Examiner in ENT for the Royal College of Surgeons. He was an Honorary Tutor at the University Medical School. Later he was Chairman of the Leicestershire & Rutland Hospice. His brother, Rhodri, and his son, Matthew, were at Radley. Haw JS (b, 1958-1963) On 20.3.2016 Jonathan Stopford Haw. At Radley he played some games for the 1st XV in 1962 but was usually to be found captaining a very happy and successful 2nd XV. He rowed in the 2nd VIII in 1963 and was a member of the Golf team. He was a House Prefect, winner of the Sixth Form Declamation Prize in 1963, Hon. Secretary of the Law Society and SubEditor of the Radleian. He was a star of the stage, praised for his ‘noble and imposing’ Ghost in Hamlet and ‘whether as courtier or in his very successful disguise, was equally consistent, acting with sustained power and remaining the same loyal soul throughout’ as Kent in King Lear. He was a member of the Union and the Mathematical Society, addressing the latter on the mechanics of rowing; ‘he talked about the optimum oar shapes and the effect that different oar shapes had on the motion of the boat and then went on to talk about the shape of the actual boat.’ He went up to read law at Keble College, Oxford. His father, D.S. Haw, was at Radley. From Other Lives in The Guardian by Alex Haw: My father, Jonathan Haw, who has died aged 71, set up the US base of the legal
Jonathan Haw firm Slaughter and May, and enjoyed the outdoor life while living in New York. However, over the years he devoted more and more time to charity work and the arts. He was raised in Sidcup, Kent, the son of Denis Haw, a trustee manager at the Royal Exchange, and Elisabeth (née Mack), a teacher at the Dragon school, Oxford. He attended West Lodge school in Sidcup and then went on to Radley College, Oxfordshire. He won a place to study law at Keble College, Oxford, where he rowed for the college. Rusticated after failing his first-year exams, he went to Australia and spent a year taking casual agricultural work around Sydney. At the end of 1969, he met a brilliant young French student, Hélène Lacuve, and they married within thee months. They moved to Bamber’s Green, Essex, and Jonathan then began his legal apprenticeship with Slaughter and May in London, while Hélène taught French literature at Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1984 they moved to New York for the Slaughter and May job, and they discovered tennis and sailing, ranching and sushi, before Jonathan was recalled to London, eventually becoming an executive partner. His colleagues remember him fondly for his brilliance, humanity and mentorship of fledgling lawyers as well as his irreverent sense of humour, and deft imprecation. He spent increasing amounts of time involved in charitable work, eventually becoming chair of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, joining its
peer review committee, and travelled extensively to attend international scientific conferences. He retired in 2001 and intensified his charitable activities, becoming deeply involved in the Mary Kinross Charitable Trust, funding medical research. He was on the board of governors of the College of Law and was twice master of the Worshipful Company of Armourers & Brasiers, supporting research into material science. The man who read science by night began to make art by day, and clay models appeared throughout the house. All remaining daylight hours he spent at work with Hélène on their beautiful garden. He loved good books, galleries, sport, food and wine; yet more than anything he loved helping others. Friends were always greeted by carefully curated snippets from the Guardian that Jonathan had saved for them. He was deeply learned and knowledgable, an unassuming teacher who preferred to listen than declare. He embodied the vanishing Englishness of humility, civility and self-improvement, splashed with humour and selfknowledge. His only, rather vocal, complaint was how bad everyone else’s driving was. When he was diagnosed with severe glioblastoma, he apologised to his wife for the inconvenience and did everything he could to help his nurses, ever gracious and grateful. Jonathan is survived by Hélène and by me and my sister Katherine.
the old radleian 2016
107