We are very sad to hear of the passing of Jon Wynne-Tyson on 26th March 2020, aged 95.
Jon was a stalwart of the animal rights movement, a vegetarian and a Quaker who was Patron of Quaker Concern for Animals and a trustee of Compassion in World Farming. Jon was a great writer who set up his own publishing company, Centaur Press. He wrote The Civilised Alternative (1972) and Food for a Future (1975) but he is probably best known for The Extended Circle: A Dictionary of Humane Thought (1985) in which he collates quotations from many famous people in history to make the case for extending our circle of compassion to include animals.
I was introduced to Jon about 10 years ago by Richard Ryder and was lucky enough to visit him on several occasions at his home in West Sussex when travelling to RSPCA meetings. He was a delightful, kind man and a perfect host. I shall miss him very much.
AIA President Richard Ryder was a close friend of Jon and says, “Jon played an important role in establishing the modern Animal Rights movement that has been so successful in getting over 60 pieces of animal protection legislation passed in Britain and the EU over the last 40 years. In 1977, at the RSPCA’s Animal Rights Conference at Trinity College, Cambridge, he came forward as an enlightened publisher of its proceedings (Animals’ Rights – a Symposium ed Paterson and Ryder, pub. Centaur Press 1979) and therefore helped to put the whole new movement on a firm and public footing”.
More can be read about Jon on the Quaker Concern for Animals’ website here.
R.I.P. Jon and thank you for your great contribution to humanity’s progress.
Barbara Gardner
Animal Interfaith Alliance 