For years the New Internationalist magazine was proofread each month by David Pitt, a retired principal of South Oxfordshire Technical College (now The Henley College). David volunteered his services and would make the journey from his home in Henley-on-Thames to our office in Oxford armed with a scalpel to weed out extraneous commas and apostrophes (these were the pre-computer days of paste-up). He also, regularly, had cuttings from newspapers about political and ideological issues of the day to show us and cajole us to get involved with some campaign or other. David was passionate about injustice. He was a long-time member of the Labour Party in Henley and was a strong protagonist for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. And he was a thorn in the side of pompous, arrogant politicians, writing letters of protest by the truckload to MPs at the House of Commons. Everyone at New Internationalist who knew David loved him dearly. He gave us all so much more than his proofreading, which we valued highly. He gave us an insight into the better side of humanity. He gave us all a massive lift with his warmth, energy and compassion.

Sadly David died on 24 March at home following a long, physically disabling illness. He was 93.

We all miss him very much.

And something tells me we will not see his like again.

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