It is with sadness that the SPR has learned of the death of Tony Pritchett. Tony had been a member of the Society since 1990, though he had attended events long before that, and continued to participate until last year.
Diana Clift has written an affectionate appreciation for the website of the Scientific and Medical Network, an organisation of which Tony was also an active member (the photograph accompanies her tribute). In addition, he was a member of the Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena, for whom he hosted a series of monthly meetings at his London flat in the 1980s.
Diana reports that he had been fighting prostate cancer for over 20 years, a fight he lost in August, using a range of alternative remedies. He was an advocate of homeopathy and had edited Positive News.
I remember him from many SPR meetings, and also an event arranged by the Survival Joint Research Committee which was floating the idea of a 'Friends of the Harry Price Library' after the retirement of Alan Wesencraft as librarian in 1998, to maintain the generous access users had enjoyed under Alan's stewardship. Tony spoke passionately in favour of such an arrangement; one sadly rejected by the Library.
In addition to his interest in psychical research he was a pioneer in the field of computer animation, creating The Flexipede in 1967, and he was a member of the Computer Arts Society. Catherine Mason, who has written her own tribute to Tony on her blog, highlights how modest he was about his considerable achievements.
As Diana notes, he could be prickly, but he was dedicated to the subjects covered by the SPR and SMN, never shy about expressing an opinion, and possessing an ability to get to the heart of the matter under discussion. He will be greatly missed by his many friends.
Tom Ruffles