Serge Lourie
English politician (1946–2024)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Alexander Serge Lourie CF (22 February 1946 – 10 September 2024[1]) was Leader of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames,[2] and was a local government councillor there from 1982 to 2010.[2] He was Chairman of the United Kingdom Housing Trust,[3] Kingston Hospital NHS Trust[4] and Sanctuary Housing Association.[5] He had also been the General Secretary of Help the Aged[6] and a board member of the London Pensions Fund Authority[7][8] and the Notting Hill Housing Trust.
22 February 1946
SDP (1981–88)
Liberal Democrats (since 1988)
Serge Lourie | |
|---|---|
| Born | Alexander Serge Lourie 22 February 1946 London, England |
| Died | 10 September 2024 (aged 78) London, England |
Political party | Labour (until 1981) SDP (1981–88) Liberal Democrats (since 1988) |
| Spouse | Julia |
Early life and education
Lourie was born on 22 February 1946. He was of Russian extraction and was the great-grandson of Lev Philippovitch Wolkenstein. His mother was Anna Rootchenko.[9] He was educated at St Paul's School, London[10] and Worcester College, Oxford[11] (1965–68), graduating from the University of Oxford with a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics.[12]
Career
Lourie qualified as a chartered accountant with Cooper Brothers in 1971 (now PricewaterhouseCoopers).[13] He was a Labour Party member of Westminster City Council (1971–74)[14] and the Greater London Council member for Hornchurch (1973–77)[15] where he was chair of scrutiny and vice-chair of finance.
He was elected as an SDP–Liberal Alliance councillor for Kew on Richmond upon Thames London Borough Council in 1982, becoming a Liberal Democrat following the merger of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the Liberal Party in 1988. In 1990, he was re-elected as a Liberal Democrat.[2] Lourie spent fourteen years as Leader, and also served as Deputy Leader and Leader of the Opposition. He lost his seat in 2010.
In 1989 he was awarded a fellowship by the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, studying urban renewal and housing in France and the United States.[16] From 1990 and 1994 he chaired the London Boroughs Grants Committee, awarding grants of around £29 million to the voluntary sector in Greater London.[17] He was a board member of the London Tourist Board where he deputised for the chairman, Sir John Egan. He chaired the Independent Panel on members' remuneration for the Association of Police Authorities[18] and was a member of the Metropolitan Police Committee.[19]
He was a board member of Richmond Charities[20] and of Kew Community Trust[21] as well as chairing Poems in the Waiting Room,[22] a British charity providing poetry cards to doctors' waiting rooms in England and Wales. He was a patron of Cultural Co-operation, a charity that ran world music festivals. In 2015, he was appointed Chairman of the Charity Appeal Committee of Kingston Hospital to raise £750,000 to improve the treatment of patients with dementia.[23]
