Roger Nathan, 2nd Baron Nathan

Roger Carol Michael Nathan, 2nd Baron Nathan (5 December 1922 - 19 July 2007) was an English solicitor and hereditary peer.

Nathan was the son of Harry Nathan and his wife Eleanor. His father was a Liberal politician who joined the Labour Party in 1934, who was created Baron Nathan in 1940 after he stood down as MP for Wandsworth Central to allow Ernest Bevin to take the seat.

Nathan was educated at Stowe School and at New College, Oxford. He was called up in the Second World War. After studying at Sandhurst, he was commission in the 17th/21st Lancers in 1942 and served in North Africa, Italy, Austria and Greece. He was mention in dispatches, and demobilised as a captain in 1946.

He returned to New College, Oxford, and read law. From 1948, he took his articles with his father, then on leave as Minister of Civil Aviation, and joined his father's firm, Herbert Oppenheimer Nathan and Vandyk. He became a partner when he qualified in 1950, on the same day as his marriage. He worked on the flotations of Sainsbury's and Plessey on the London Stock Exchange.

He succeeded his father as the 2nd Baron Nathan in 1963 and sat on the crossbenches. He become senior partner of Herbert Oppenheimer in 1978. The firm collapsed in 1988, and he joined many of its former partners at Denton Hall Burgin and Warren, where he was a consultant until 1992.

He was involved in environmental issues, and various charities. He was a member of the Cavalry Club, and served as Master of the Gardeners' Company. He was chairman and then a vice-president of the Royal Society of Arts from 1975 to 1977. He was president of the Jewish Welfare Board from 1967 to 1971, and chairman and later honorary president of the Central British Fund for Jewish Relief and Rehabilitation. He became an honorary Doctor of Laws at the University of Sussex in 1988.

He lived at Collyers Farm at Lickfold in Sussex. He was president of the Society of Sussex Downsmen in 1987, and later chairman of the South Downs Conservation Board.

He enjoyed playing the piano and the violin. He also enjoyed horse riding, hunting with the Eridge Huntand Cowdray Hunt. His memoirs, "The Spice of Life", were published in 2003.

He married Philippa Solomon in 1950, daughter of Major J. B. Solomon, MC. They had two daughters and a son. He was succeeded in the barony by his son, Rupert.

References

* [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/news/2007/08/17/db1703.xml Obituary, "The Telegraph", 17 August 2007]
* [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article2317327.ece Obituary, "The Times", 24 August 2007]