Joel Goodman Joffe, Baron Joffe, (12 May 1932 – 18 June 2017) was a South African-born British lawyer and Labour peer in the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in ...

Life and career

Born in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to De ...

, South Africa, to the Joffe family. His mother was born in

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine ( ar, فلسطين الانتدابية '; he, פָּלֶשְׂתִּינָה (א״י) ', where "E.Y." indicates ''’Eretz Yiśrā’ēl'', the Land of Israel) was a geopolitical entity established between 1920 and 1948 i ...

and his father was born in

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

, Joffe grew up in a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

household before being sent to a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

boarding school. He was educated at the

University of Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), is a multi-campus South African public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University or Wits ( or ). The univers ...

(BCom, LLB 1955), and worked as a human rights lawyer 1958–65, including as defence attorney of the leadership of the ANC at the 1963-4

Rivonia Trial The Rivonia Trial took place in South Africa between 9 October 1963 and 12 June 1964, and led to the imprisonment of Nelson Mandela and the others among the accused who were convicted of sabotage and sentenced to life at the Palace of Justic ...

, helping to represent

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African anti-apartheid activist who served as the first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country's first black head of state and the ...

and his co-defendants. He married the artist Vanetta Pretorius in 1962 and moved with her to the United Kingdom in 1965 after being refused entry to Australia as he was considered "undesirable". Once in the UK he worked in the financial services industry, setting up Hambro Life Assurance with Sir

Mark Weinberg Sir Mark Aubrey Weinberg (born 9 August 1931) is a South African-born British financier. He is the Life President of St. James’s Place Wealth Management. Early life and education Weinberg was born in South Africa and educated at King Edw ...

as well as in the

voluntary sector The voluntary sector, independent sector, or civic sector is the realm of social activity undertaken by organizations that are non-governmental nonprofit organizations. This sector is also called the third sector, community sector, and nonprofit ...

. Joffe chaired the Swindon and Marlborough Health Authority and the Ridgeway Hospital and was a member of The Royal Commission on the Care of the Elderly. He was associated with

Oxfam Oxfam is a British-founded confederation of 21 independent charitable organizations focusing on the alleviation of global poverty, founded in 1942 and led by Oxfam International. History Founded at 17 Broad Street, Oxford, as the Oxford C ...

in various roles between 1982 and 2001, including being its Chair 1995–2001. He was a trustee of many different charities and actively pursued a range of charitable activities through the Joffe Charitable Trust Joffe Charitable Trust which he set up with his wife Vanetta in 1968. He was awarded Honorary Doctorates from the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a British Public university, public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by List of universities in the United Kingdom by enrolment, number of students. The majority of the OU's underg ...

(1995),

De Montfort University De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) is a public university in the city of Leicester, England. It was established in accordance with the Further and Higher Education Act in 1992 as a degree awarding body. The name De Montfort University was tak ...

(2000), University of the Witwatersrand (2001),

Brunel University Brunel University London is a public research university located in the Uxbridge area of London, England. It was founded in 1966 and named after the Victorian engineer and pioneer of the Industrial Revolution, Isambard Kingdom Brunel. In June 1 ...

(2004) and the

University of Bath (Virgil, Georgics II) , mottoeng = Learn the culture proper to each after its kind , established = 1886 (Merchant Venturers Technical College) 1960 (Bristol College of Science and Technology) 1966 (Bath University of Technology) 1971 (univ ...

(2006). In 2016, he was awarded the

Freedom of the City of London The Freedom of the City of London started around 1237 as the status of a 'free man' or 'citizen', protected by the charter of the City of London and not under the jurisdiction of a feudal lord. In the Middle Ages, this developed into a freedom or ...

. He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the

1999 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1999 for various Commonwealth realms were announced on 30 December 1998, to celebrate the year passed and mark the beginning of 1999. The ''Honours list'' is a list of people who have been awarded one of the various orders, d ...

, and made a

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages A ...

on 16 February 2000, being raised to the peerage as Baron Joffe, of

Liddington Liddington is a village and civil parish near Swindon in Wiltshire, England. The settlement lies southeast of Swindon town, close to junction 15 of the M4 motorway, which is approximately away via the B4192. History The parish has been an a ...

in the County of Wiltshire. In February 2003 he proposed as a

Private Member's Bill A private member's bill is a bill (proposed law) introduced into a legislature by a legislator who is not acting on behalf of the executive branch. The designation "private member's bill" is used in most Westminster system jurisdictions, in whi ...

the "Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill", which would legalise physician-assisted dying. After deliberation by a Lords committee, the bill was put forward again in November 2005. On 12 May 2006, the Bill was debated once again in the

and an amendment to delay its introduction by six months was carried by a margin of 148–100, halting progress of the bill in that session. He appeared on the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

radio programme ''

Desert Island Discs ''Desert Island Discs'' is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It was first broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme on 29 January 1942. Each week a guest, called a "castaway" during the programme, is asked to choose eight recordings (usua ...

'' on 28 October 2007. Joffe retired from the House of Lords on 30 March 2015. In 2017 Joffe appeared along with surviving defendants at the Rivonia Trial,

Denis Goldberg Denis Theodore Goldberg (11 April 1933 – 29 April 2020) was a South African social campaigner, who was active in the struggle against apartheid. He was accused No. 3 in the Rivonia Trial, alongside the better-known Nelson Mandela and Walter ...

Andrew Mlangeni Andrew Mokete Mlangeni (6 June 192521 July 2020), also known as Percy Mokoena, Mokete Mokoena, and Rev. Mokete Mokoena, was a South African political activist and anti-apartheid campaigner who, along with Nelson Mandela and others, was imprison ...

and

Ahmed Kathrada Ahmed Mohamed Kathrada (21 August 1929 – 28 March 2017), sometimes known by the nickname "Kathy", was a South African politician and anti-apartheid activist. Kathrada's involvement in the anti-apartheid activities of the African National Con ...

, along with fellow defence lawyers

George Bizos George Bizos ( el, Γιώργος Μπίζος; 14 November 19279 September 2020) was a Greek-South African human rights lawyer who campaigned against apartheid in South Africa. He was noted for representing Nelson Mandela during the Rivonia T ...

and Denis Kuny, in a documentary film entitled ''Life is Wonderful'', directed by Sir

Nicholas Stadlen Sir Nicholas Felix Stadlen (born 3 May 1950) is a former judge of the High Court of England and Wales. He was appointed to the High Court's Queen's Bench Division on 2 October 2007 and retired early, on 21 April 2013. His parents were political ...

, which tells the story of the trial. The title reflects Goldberg's words to his mother at the end of the trial on hearing that he and his comrades had been spared the death sentence. A

Jewish atheist Jewish atheism refers to the atheism of people who are ethnically and (at least to some extent) culturally Jewish. Contrary to popular belief, the term "Jewish atheism" is not a contradiction because Jewish identity encompasses not only religio ...

and a

humanist Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humani ...

in his beliefs, Joel was a devoted member and patron of

Humanists UK Humanists UK, known from 1967 until May 2017 as the British Humanist Association (BHA), is a charitable organisation which promotes secular humanism and aims to represent "people who seek to live good lives without religious or superstitious be ...

, which campaigns on ethical issues like assisted dying and for a

secular state A secular state is an idea pertaining to secularity, whereby a state is or purports to be officially neutral in matters of religion, supporting neither religion nor irreligion. A secular state claims to treat all its citizens equally regardle ...

in the UK. Joffe died on 18 June 2017 at his home in

after a short illness at the age of 85. His life was celebrated in many tributes and obituaries.

Publications

*Joel Joffe, ''The Rivonia Story'', Mayibuye Books, Cape Town, 1995 *Joel Joffe, ''The State Vs. Nelson Mandela: The Trial That Changed South Africa'', Oneworld Publications, 2007

Life and career

Publications

References

Further reading