Anthony Malcolm Conway: 1935-2023

Anthony attended Bootham Quaker School in York. He went on to study at Trinity Hall, Cambridge and loved and cherished his time there. He often shared his stories. Anthony’s sons went to school in Oxfordshire and come boat race time, Anthony would be cheering for Cambridge, just as his sons did for Oxford.

Throughout his life, Anthony (together with his wife Judith) spent so much of his life carrying out charitable / voluntary work, but always done with discretion.

During his student years, Anthony was education secretary for Inter-university Jewish federation (IUJF, predecessor to Union of Jewish Students). He practised as a Solicitor for 50 years. He was President of the Leeds Law Society, The Leeds Jewish Representative Council and he was the Jewish Chairman of Leeds Council of Christians and Jews. He was a member of multiple Leeds University committees including Convocation, the Council and the Court and also Audit and Risk Committee, where he served as Chair. He regularly travelled all over the UK lecturing. Interfaith and understanding was of paramount importance to him. He was involved with so much more than what has been listed here..

Following his death, Anthony’s family were heartened to have received hundreds of messages of condolence from all over the world. There was a common theme in all the memories shared by people who knew Anthony: that he was a man of great integrity, of charity, of huge commitment and dedication to community and interfaith partnership. He was also a loving family man.

One message that we have to hand from another educator states “I have no need to tell you about the high esteem in which we held your father. He was a giant of a man in integrity, honesty, sound intelligence and knowledge in all matters, religious and secular. He cared for all his friends most deeply and would always show that special interest by enquiring sincerely about their families and interests. He was a huge part of our lives.”

Another community leader wrote “Anthony was a special person who cared about so many people in a very discreet way without any fanfare. He will be missed.”

Anthony never sought any recognition. He was very kind, caring, generous, thoughtful and empathetic. He always put others before himself.

It may be of interest to know that we never once, in the 50+ years of our lives, heard our father raise his voice. He nevertheless had an ability to be firm and get his point across with clarity. He and our mother never argued and in our parents’ house, we only ever heard laughter from them. Our father and mother were married for roughly 57.5 years, before our father passed away earlier this year.

He is loved and will be greatly missed by his widow Judith, sons Jeremy & Richard, daughter-in-law Dina, grandchildren Annabel and Justin and his many friends.