1935−2019

Walter Pick was born in Vienna in 1935. His family moved to Oxford four years later following the invasion of Austria by the Nazis. His father was a dentist, and set up practice in Longwall Street, where Walter joined him after qualifying from Guy's Dental Hospital in 1959, making him the fourth generation of dentists in the family. The practice moved to St John's Street where Water ran it successfully until his retirement. Active within the profession, he was chairman of the Local Dental Committee for many years as well as chairman of the local section of the BDA, active at Branch level, and represented the profession at national meetings.

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Walter married Diana in 1962 and was the proud father of two girls and one boy who all married and provided a number of grandchildren. Walter was never happier than when the whole family was around him. Walter and Diana loved entertaining and their large lunch and dinner parties were memorable for their generous helpings of food, drink and fun. Walter loved anything electronic and was happiest tinkering with his cars to an extent that he always wanted to have the user's handbook a few weeks before taking delivery of a new car. He also loved his garden, especially his begonia collection, as well as music, theatre and photography and was a whiz at manipulating photographs and challenging the phrase that 'photographs never lie'! As an active member of the Oxford North Rotary Club, his Christmas pictorial quizzes were fun, intriguing and enjoyable. He also enjoyed the exchange visits with twinned Rotary Clubs in France and Germany, where he often acted as an interpreter - not so sure though about the accuracy of the translation, as the translation was often funnier than the actual speech.

Russell writes: As a young dentist moving to Oxford in the early 1980s and as an enthusiastic BDA member, I well remember Walter as one of the leaders of the Oxford dental scene. It became quickly obvious that here was a man held in great esteem by his peers. He was an aspirational figure and a great role model for the younger dentists, who will be remembered by colleagues as a person synonymous with Oxfordshire dentistry and selfless service.

In recent years he was troubled with back problems which increasingly affected his movement. Being fiercely independent he continued to be active until a few weeks before his death. He died at home surrounded by his family on the 25 September 2019.

Chris Evans and Russell Evans