Yitz Greenwald, my best friend and husband of 56 years, died just before Rosh Hashanah. He was buried at the little country cemetery on Moshav Hayogev in the Jezreel Valley where our younger son is a dairy farmer. It was Yitz's request, and most fitting. He had come full circle.

In 1950/51 as a 17/18 year old he spent a year in Israel: six months study at the Youth Leadership Center in Jerusalem and six months working at kibbutzim. He was already a prize-winning tractor driver after his time on the Bnei Akiva farm in England.

We met soon after his return to England and decided to marry in 1954. After the wedding we planned to make aliyah and join Moshav Massuot Yitzhak where Yitz's sister Blossom, her husband and children lived. She had already booked a little house for us.

So much for "plans"! It took my very stern father two years before he gave his permission for us to marry, and we ended up settling in Yitz's parents' hometown of Sunderland. It took another thirteen years till we finally came on aliyah in 1969 with three children. Not to a moshav, but to Givatayim, as Yitz had got a job at the Tel Aviv head office of the Ata garment manufacturing and retail company. His experience of working with British department stores was just what Ata was looking for.

But Yitz had another card up his sleeve. Before we left the UK he spent three weeks in London at the offices of Tack Training International, after which he was granted the franchise for Israel. Within a short time a branch was up and running in Tel Aviv, and a few years later Yitz left Ata to join me and work full time in Tack Training Israel, running the business and lecturing on the 1 - 3 day business management courses.

What a terrific trainer he was, in perfect Hebrew as well. His personality, enthusiasm and humor stood him in good stead. He continued to make good use of his skills after he retired in 2000, as a volunteer with ESRA teaching English in many schools in Tel Aviv including Beit Dany. In 2005 Yitz received an ESRA Volunteer Award for outstanding voluntarism.

In recent years he joined the Tel Aviv Community Theater, TACT, appearing in a number of their productions. Yitz also took advantage of the Open University, especially the classical music programs and lectures which he so enjoyed. He even became an active member of and central figure in the Meytar Choir in Givatayim.

At his funeral there were tears and laughter as his grandchildren spoke about him and, as he had requested, Mahler's Symphony No. 3 was played.

I, together with our children, grandchildren and great grandchildren, are going to have to fill the void that Yitz has left, with wonderful memories.