Fundraiser for the Palestinian cause
It was characteristic of Nick Pretzlik that his death from heart failure, at the age of 58, should have occurred during a hectic training schedule - sometimes cycling up to 70 miles a day - in preparation for a charity London-Jerusalem peace cycle ride. Pretzlik was a son of the establishment who renounced his business career and won international praise for his work for ordinary Palestinians under Israeli occupation.
Pretzlik's commitment to the Palestinian cause was prompted by the time his eldest son spent in Israel-Palestine in 1989, working with the Bedouin during the first intifada. Pretzlik then travelled extensively in the Middle East, especially the Israeli-occupied territories, from where he wrote passionate articles for websites around the world, ranging from the Electronic Intifada to Jews For Justice For Palestinians, as well as publishing outlets in US universities and English-speaking Middle Eastern newspapers. He was praised for his "courage and commitment" by the Right Reverend Riah abu El Assal, Anglican bishop in Jerusalem. It was evidence of his charm and energy that he secured an agreement from two Labour members of the Israeli Knesset [parliament] that they would greet the cyclists at the Jordanian border to ease their way into the West Bank through Israeli military security.
Pretzlik avoided joining any political organisation, and was above all a believer in reconciliation, who would plead with the Israeli military and security to allow Palestinians to get to a hospital or a school, whether it was in Gaza's Rafah refugee camp or the blitzed cities of Jenin and Nablus. For one 12-year-old Jenin boy with spina bifida, this, and the funds Pretzlik raised, enabled him to receive the treatment that now allows him to walk with crutches. And for a young man from Gaza, this meant the chance to study linguistics at London University.
Pretzlik was born in west Sussex to a beautiful and spirited Scots mother, and a father who represented England as an amateur golfer and was a wartime RAF night fighter pilot. He was educated at Ludgrove in Wokingham, Berkshire and then Eton, where he played cricket for the Public Schools at Lord's against the Combined Services, and was English ski-jumping champion at 17. His real love was touring the Alps with skins attached to his skis, usually in pursuit of solitude. Climbing in the Andes and Himalayas, he twice reached 22,000ft. He brought the same optimism and determination to the Arthur Woollacott Group, the paper and packaging business that he ran. But at 49, when work undermined his health, he made a 10,000km journey around South America.
He is survived by his wife, Ursula, his two sons, and his father.
Nicholas Charles Pretzlik, businessman, born July 30 1945; died July 11 2004
From Robin Allen The Guardian 19 August 2004