Neville Sassienie, who has died aged 91, spent his life moving between worlds, as an environmental activist, a seeker after spiritual truth, and a leader in the Jewish community.
It was at school in the 1940s at Haileybury college in Hertfordshire that Neville developed an interest in two of his abiding passions: sport (anything involving England) and religion. He played rugby, with more enthusiasm than talent; and, in spite of being Jewish, took pride in reading the lesson in chapel: this gave him an inkling that there might be something true in religion. This conviction developed into an active involvement in the Reform Synagogues of Great Britain, now known as the Movement for Reform Judaism, first in the 1960s as a member of the newly formed Finchley Reform Synagogue in London, and later as chair (1996-99) of the national movement.
Born in Cricklewood, north-west London, Neville was brought up by relatives following the hospitalisation of his mother, Rachel (nee Proops), who died when he was five. He remained close to his father, Sam, an accountant, who sent his son, after the disruption of the second world war years, to Haileybury, where he became head boy.
He entered the same accountancy firm as his father, who died suddenly when Neville was 22, and remained at Barnes Roffe for the whole of his career, eventually becoming an innovative senior partner. Marriage to Margaret Cohen in 1958, and their devoted raising of three daughters, was combined with his professional life.
Meanwhile, his interest in personal development led him to become involved in neurolinguistic programming and the Landmark Forum, an organisation offering training in personal and professional growth. But it was his encounter in 1974 with the spiritual exercises of Subud, an international spiritual community inspired by Islamic mysticism, that became pivotal to his growing awareness that personal spirituality and collective social and environmental transformation went hand in hand.
A conversation with Rabbi Lionel Blue, and a close working relationship with his synagogue’s rabbi, Jeffrey Newman, supported his conviction that a divine energy (what people call God) was available for individuals and groups and that contact with this force could lead to remarkable changes.
He was insistent, when talking to me, a friend and rabbi, that liturgical creativity was vital in helping Jews develop their own relationship with God and that spiritual work and political activism were indivisible.
Active in the Jewish Board of Deputies, he fought an often lonely battle to raise awareness in the Jewish community of the moral imperative to take the environmental crisis seriously. It was only when he was able to involve David Miliband (then secretary of state for the environment) in the launch in 2007 of the Big Green Jewish Website, that change in the community’s awareness began to gather pace.
Neville is survived by Margaret, and their daughters, Jo, Jane and Gill, and grandchildren, Ellie and Jess.
