Obituaries

John Hyatt, secretary of War Resisters' International from 1980-84, has died of cancer at the age of 62 in Turkey. Michael Randle who served with John on the WRI Executive in the 1970s and during John's period as secretary pays tribute to him here:

I share the sense of shock and sadness which others have expressed over the death of John Hyatt. I first met him as a young man representing the Youth Section of the Peace Pledge Union at the WRI Council meeting in Vienna in August 1968.

Devi Prasad, WRI's General Secretary from 1962-1972 and chairperson 1973-1975, died on 1 June in Delhi. An artist and potter, Devi graduated from Rabindranath Tagore's Shantiniketan before moving to Sevagram where he worked with Gandhi from 1942 to 1947. Post-India's independence, he remained active in the Gandhian movement, especially in the field of education.

Phyllis Higgins, a pacifist and a volunteer with the WRI (and other pacifist organisations), has died on June 10th, 2010. She will be remembered with kindness by the many WRI activists to whom she had extended her hospitality while they were staying in London.

George Willoughby died on 5 January 2010. He was 95. His death came just short of the one year anniversary of the passing of his wife and partner in peace, Lillian, who died on January 15, 2009, just a few feet from where George spent his last minutes.

George and Lil were always there for peace, and it seemed would always, like rocks, be there for us. They were our touchstones and our teachers. Now, both are gone.

Bill Sutherland, unofficial ambassador between the peoples of Africa and the Americas for over fifty years, died peacefully on the evening of January 2, 2010. He was 91.

It is with deep regret and sorrow that Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ) informs all our friends and partners of the passing away of our Director - Keith Goddard, one of the champions for the struggle for lesbians, gay men, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) peoples rights in Zimbabwe.

Ralph DiGia died on 1 February,
2008, at the age of 93.  A Second World War conscientious objection,
Ralph had been one of the prisoners who went on hunger strike to end
racial segregation in prisons.  On his release, he was one of the
generation of radical pacifists who transformed the War Resisters
League and pioneered the use of nonviolent direct action in the USA, on
issues of war preparation (such as civil defence drills) and on racial
segregation. 

This afternoon, February 1st, I got a call from Ruth Benn that Ralph DiGia, 93, had died at St. Vincent’s here in New York City. I had visited him this past Saturday and sensed he was losing his battle - he had fallen and broken a hip about two weeks ago, got an infection in the hospital (hospitals in the US are notoriously dangerous places for the sick and wounded to go!), and despite rallying several times, died.

Grace Paley, the American short-story writer and pacifist, has died aged 84.

24 December 1919 - 3 February 2007

Len Gibson, a lifelong peace campaigner and member of The Brotherhood Church -- a WRI affiliate in West Yorkshire, England -- has died at age 87.

15 February 1926 - 15 December 2006

Jean Van Lierde, who died in Brussels on 15 December, was the main figure behind the long political struggle for the recognition of the right to CO in Belgium, which resulted in 1964 in the law creating alternative civilian service. He was a friend and adviser to Patrice Lumumba, the Congo's first post-independence prime minister, and published several books and articles on Lumumba.

Harry Mister died in London on 26 January, just a fortnight after his 92nd birthday. Harry was a key figure in many parts of the peace movement including, but not only, the pacifist end of the movement - for over 70 years.