We are saddened to report the death of John Rety, anarchist, poet and chess player who was editor of Freedom in the 1960’s. John died on February 3rd of a heart attack at home. John co-founded the Torriano Meeting House and published the Hearing Eye series of poetry books, while his column “through the anarchist press“ in Freedom has been published as a book by Freedom Press.
He remained active in recent years compering meetings of the Torriano Poets for Peace a vivid insight into his passion and commitment that no one who has ever seen could forget, and was a regular visitor to Angel Alley. He is survived by his partner Susan, son Jacob and daughter Emily Johns who is active in the peace movement and co-editor of Peace News.
We will be doing a full obituary for John in the next issue of Freedom but for a flavour of the man some of his chess games can be found online at http://www.chessgames.com/player/john_rety.html and some of his poetry at http://www.hphoward.demon.co.uk/torriano/practice.htm.