Len was born on 14 April 1909 in Dvinsk, Russia, and died on 5 May 2001 in Stoke-on-Trent, England. He qualified in medicine in Edinburgh in 1934. Soon after, in 1936, he became concerned with the situation in Spain and decided to give his medical skills in the fight against fascism. By the age of 28, as permanent chief of the medical services serving the XIth and XVth Brigades, he improvised life-saving treatment in makeshift conditions such as tents, railway carriages and caves.
In the Second World War Len served with the Royal Army Medical Corp in North Africa and Italy and was awarded the Military Cross for bravery at the Battle of Monte Cassino.
After demobilisation, in 1947, he decided to concentrate on the pathology of learning disability. He trained at St Mary's Hospital under Alexander Fleming and Wilfrid Newcomb and, since he wished to specialise in neuropathology, he worked with Alfred Meyer and Elisabeth Beck at the Maudsley Hospital. In 1956 he became a pathologist at the Fountain Hospital — an international centre for the treatment and prevention of learning disability. He regarded himself as an ‘ombudsman for the dead’ and was scrupulous in obtaining permission for post-mortems from the relatives. He published widely and wrote a much quoted Pathology of Mental Retardation with Jan Stern, where his meticulous wide-ranging experience added substantially to a fresh understanding of the aetiology of learning disability, and, thereby dispelled ancient myths.
He was much respected, generous and kind as a professional collaborator, and he welcomed students and colleagues from around the world. Fluent in many languages and receptive to many cultures, he was a ‘citizen of the world on the side of the underprivileged’. He was a principled, courageous and honest man, qualities that sometimes were interpreted as controversial.
He was steeped in Russian culture, which suited him as the Chairman of the Society for Cultural Relations in the USSR from 1969-1976. In addition he was Chairman of the International Brigade Association, which he held until his death. After ‘retirement’ he wrote Unbroken. Resistance and Survival in the Concentration Camps, a book about resistance in the German concentration camps.
In March 2001 the Government's new strategy document on learning disability stated that ‘forgotten generations of people with learning disability lost out… a revolution in care is needed… the four key principles of civil rights, independence, choice and inclusion’ all lie at the heart of the Government's proposals. These principles were at the heart of Len's professional and political belief. He was 50 years ahead of his time.
He is survived by two sons, John and Peter, a geriatrician.
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