Arnold Ralph Cooperman died aged 81on March 22, 2009. He was one of the most talented of a small group of young post World War II Jewish fencers who in 1950 successfully participated in the important third Maccabiah, the first to be held in the then newly created State of Israel. They then went on to represent Great Britain in world championships and at the Olympic Games. The group included Tony Cotton and Allan Jay who won the world foil championship in 1959 and two silver medals in Rome in 1960.

Ralph was born into a traditionally Jewish family in Stoke Newington, England on November 16, 1927.

He took up fencing in 1945 as part of his national service as a physical training instructor in the RAF and such was his natural aptitude for the sport that he was soon competing in national championships. He won the British junior championships at foil and sabre in 1950 and 1951 and went on to win the British national sabre championship three times.

He participated in the Maccabiah in 1953 and 1969, again successfully, and in the world championships in 1953.

In June 1955 Ralph took third place behind two Hungarian former world champions in an international sabre competition in London. In August that year he won an international tournament at Ostend.

Ralph represented Great Britain at foil and sabre in the Olympic Games in Melbourne (1956), where he was also in charge of the team’s physical training, and in Rome (1960) and Tokyo (1964).

In the Commonwealth Games, representing England, he was silver medallist at sabre in 1954 and 1958, and gold medallist in 1962 when he also won the bronze medal at foil. In 1966 in Kingston, Jamaica, he won a gold medal.

But those who knew him well will remember him best for his off piste qualities. He was unfailingly courteous and kind. He gave unstintingly of his time to coach wheelchair fencers in the early days of Stoke Mandeville. He was an excellent host (he and his wife Shirlie were famous for their hospitality) and most of all, was gifted with a bubbling sense of humor. He danced and swam well. One was always glad to be in his company.

Sadly his latter years were blighted by severe Alzheimer’s but he will be remembered for his sense of fun as well as for his skill and dash as a fencer.