It is with deep sadness, the Liberal Democrat Friends of Israel (LDFI) announce the passing of our dear friend and long-time LDFI Vice-Chairman and Treasurer Jonathan Davies, after a year-long illness.
Jonathan, an Oxford graduate and former Partner and Head of the Financial Services team at a large City law firm, was a Liberal Democrat stalwart. On a local level, Jonathan was a phenomenal activist in the London Borough of Barnet. He represented Childs Hill as a councillor from 1994-1998, stood for Parliament in Finchley and Golders Green on three occasions and was appointed the ward’s election agent in the very high profile 2019 election, as well as being elected as Chair of the English Party of the Liberal Democrats in 2010. His talents, dedication and calming influence spanned decades, and he devoted countless hours to campaigning for and supporting the Party.
As well as being a Liberal to his core, Jonathan was incredibly proud of his Judaism and as a devout Zionist his love for Israel. He was a longstanding Deputy on the Board of Deputies of British Jews and his contribution to the Liberal Democrat Friends of Israel, and his local Jewish community, is immeasurable. Jonathan was the organiser-in-chief, he made sure LDFI ran like clockwork, meticulous to the core and always ensuring that every detail was as it should be. At our Honorary Executive Committee meetings, often warmly hosted at Jonathan’s home, the team would sometimes struggle to recall something, and within an instant Jonathan would remind us of the event, the date, the person, the election or the Jewish festival. This was a first-rate mind at work.
We will miss his insight, his warmth and his companionship, especially on our memorable delegations to the Middle East, Israel and the West Bank. We will miss his contributions, his presence, his valuable input and his tremendous and unstinting commitment.
He is survived by his brother Neil, and sister-in law Suzanne. Our thoughts are with them and we wish them a long life. Baruch Dayan Emet.
* Please note that all comments on this piece will be moderated.
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5 Comments
Jonathan was an absolute lovely man, extremely intelligent and talented but without any ego or self-importance. He also had a fabulous, dry sense of humour.
He was a great servant of the party at so many different levels – one of those people who make everything works, quietly & efficiently behind the scenes. And yet he could also make powerful and eloquent speeches, and held his own in any debate.
I hadn’t seen him in quite some time but admired him and will miss him greatly.
I am sorry to hear of Jonathan’s passing he was a really decent man. People like Jonathan are invaluable to the party – as they do so much and quietly behind the scenes and he did.
Rest in Peace Jonathan
I did not know Jonathan well but all I saw of him shone out with kindness and decency (though a slightly undiscriminating chooser of places to eat!). Absurdly young to die RIP
I’m so sorry to hear this news. Jonathan and I were contemporaries at university, when the Liberal-SDP Alliance was coming together. We Liberals treated the new SDP student society with a fair degree of wariness; several of them seemed to be closet Tories who were only interested in the Oxford Union (the debating society, not the student union – their termly elections, mostly between Tories of different stripes, were vicious). But Jonathan was one of the larger group of SDPers who took politics, and student politics, seriously, and we worked together with him, and them, very happily. He helped me become the first person elected under the Alliance label in the university. What a very sad loss.
3 Years on ….much missed !