Obituary: Anthony Lewison

Anthony Lewison, solicitor and archaeologist: born 2 March 1921; married 1947 Dinora Pines (two sons); died 1 August 1993.

ANTHONY LEWISON retired from his legal practice at the age of 50 and spent the next 20 years of his life following an alternative career, that of archaeology.

His second career was of a kind which would have distinguished the early and middle years of most other successful people. First, because he had always wanted to go to university, he completed a degree in the Institute of Archaeology at London University, taking part in important excavations in Israel, under the leadership of Hugh Siskin; he became a member of the Anglo-Jewish Archaeological Society and soon its vice-president.

Then, in the late 1970s he began to explore the archaeologically rich landscape surrounding his second home in Cipieres, a village perched high in the Alpes Maritimes. Here he discovered such amazing potential, both in the landscape and in the rich archives of the village, that he became committed to the idea of reconstructing a full cultural ecology of the commune, building towards an accurate picture of the changing relationship between people and land from the prehistoric past to the present day. He beavered away, excavating on the plateau, classifying and transcribing, arranging meetings and seminars, badgering busy academics with their heads full of projects of their own, into what became an extraordinary collaboration. By the late 1980s the Cipieres project had become a major interdisciplinary research commitment, involving archaeologists, geographers, historians, demographers, botanists and geologists from four British universities and two national research institutes, not to mention a platoon of dedicated assistants and transcribers from at least four countries.

Lewison was now writing academic papers for learned journals based on his findings in Cipieres and also producing a fine Master's thesis. This was presented just as he entered his eighth decade. It was on the basis of this achievement that, in his last few months, he received recognition as a scholar from the French academic community. He was awarded the unusual accolade of a French government research grant to carry forward the interdisciplinary and now international research enterprise in Cipieres under his leadership. Always diffident and uncertain about his academic credentials, he was delighted by this practical reward.

Anthony Lewison was educated at St Paul's School and, against his inner promptings, he used a small legacy to take his articles and become a family solicitor. After a brief period as a partner, he set up his own practice and embarked on a successful 20-year career. But he always regarded his legal work as a lesser alternative to his real ambitions. From his earliest years he had a fascination with the theatre and arts, engendered mainly by his aunt Beatie, who, with her husband, Jack de Leon, had founded the Q Theatre, in Kew, west London. For 30 years this was a seedbed for British acting talent. As a boy, Anthony would attend each weekly production. He desperately wanted to be involved. In his twenties, he wrote plays: one of them, Green Laughter, reached the West End for a short run. For a time he worked with Barry Took, writing material for Marty Feldman. He was also running amateur play readings in his own home - usually Greek dramas, which held a fascination for him.

Lewison was a great supporter and encourager: most particularly of his wife, Dinora, in the development of her distinguished career as a psychoanalyst, but also of his collaborators in all his many projects. A talented amateur painter and woodcarver, he encouraged his children and eventually his grandchildren to develop their artistic talents. He was a vigorous supporter of the arts, particularly of fringe theatre, but also as a backer for leading shows. His concerns for social improvement led to membership of the Ethics Committee of the Family Planning Association and to service on Lord Scarman's advisory committee for the welfare of young black people established in the wake of the Brixton riots.

Anthony Lewison was a free spirit, full of contradictions which, curiously, seemed fully resolved in his personality: a man of vulnerable sensitivities who still had the youthful enthusiasm and creative energy to encourage and convince others; single- minded to the point of obstinacy but always listening to reasonable argument and accepting the judgements he respected: a person of sudden anger, great tolerance and sound wisdom. His life was an inspiration.