Simon Gavron

PUBLISHER Simon Gavron, who has died suddenly aged 46 touched an extraordinary number of lives.
More than 500 people attended a celebration of his life in the deliberately non-religious space of Cecil Sharp House in Primrose Hill, on Monday which followed a quiet family service earlier at Golders Green crematorium.
Some were old friends who had flown in from New York and who remembered Simon – the son of Lord Gavron – from his time in a publishing house there.
Others were newer friends made while indulging his passion for salsa dancing. There were moving tributes from his family and three sons, Rafi, 15, Benji, 12, and Moses, 9, and from a number of friends who spoke fondly of his incredible passion for life.
Richard Rosen, an American friend, spoke for many when he said: “Simon’s surface was more interesting than most people’s depths and his depths were more accessible that most people’s surfaces. If there were an Enjoyment of Life Hall of Fame, he would be the first exhibit on your right as you entered. Not just because he enjoyed his own life but because he helped others enjoy theirs more.”
The salsa music he loved so much echoed through the hall at the end of the service, summing up his extraordinary zest for life.
His wife, Martha Pichey, a writer, said: “We really liked the idea that you weren’t allowed to do anything religious. He would not have liked that. I wanted the day to be a celebration of his life and about reaching out for the best things in life and from people because that’s what he was like.”
The son of the millionaire Labour peer – and step-son of Deputy Mayor of London Nicky Gavron – was brought up in Highgate, the oldest of four children. His schooldays were spent at University College School in Frognal, Hampstead, followed by a degree in history at Trinity Hall College, Cambridge. He then moved to New York to work in arts publishing press Abbeville.
In 1982, at the age of 24, he fell in love with Martha Pichey, then 25, who was also working in publishing. The couple were married six years later outside Martha’s kitchen door at her childhood home in Connecticut, by her mother, a justice of the peace.
Not long after, the two moved to London, where they decided to settle in Eton Villas, Chalk Farm. Simon spent some time working with the Folio Society, publishers of beautiful leather-bound books, and briefly as a business consultant before deciding that his true passion was his growing family.
Martha said: “He wasn’t afraid to buck convention and not have a job that defined him. He wanted to be defined by his family.
“He was incredibly sociable and caring, always ready to help others – and totally devoted to his three sons.”
The family has decided to celebrate Simon’s life and his passion for Cuba – before he died he was working on a novel partly set there – by setting up a fund in his memory. The Cuban Dancers Fund will help with travel expenses for dancers who want to come to London to teach for a brief stint.
Martha said that on a visit to Cuba Simon had witnessed first hand how the dancers and their families struggled. She added: “In his typically generous way he tried to do what he could for them while he was there.”

SUNITA RAPPAI