John James Safaty (22 Nov 1927 - 12 Oct 2022)

In loving memory of John James Safaty who sadly passed away on 12th October 2022, aged 94 years. Beloved Husband to Joan and Father to Neale and Patricia, he will be greatly missed by all who knew him.

John was born in 1927, the third of four children to Jacob and Rose Safaty, in Dagenham in Essex and is survived by his younger brother, Dennis. Their early childhood was tough as John’s father was frequently out of work.

John’s middle childhood years were defined by the onset of the Second World War. John and Dennis, at 11 and 8 respectively, were evacuated to Cirencester in the West Country. John was under strict instructions from his mother to “look after Dennis and don’t be separated”. The billeting officer drove them round to multiple households who would only take one boy, until a kind couple, who had no children of their own, took them both in. They stayed there for 11 months and returned to Dagenham in 1940 but unfortunately the air raids recommenced and they were evacuated again, this time to Devon where John worked on a farm. He would get up at 6 and milk the cows, go to school and then milk the cows again at 5pm. It was during this time that John found Dennis and a friend drunk on “scrumpy” in a field and singing hymns.

John left school at 14 and found work originally as an office boy in the United Press, an American news agency in Fleet Street, where he worked up until 1944. He taught himself to type and eventually became a teleprinter operator where he was very much involved in following the path of the war. It was here that he met Walter Cronkite who chased him around the newsroom floor one night, after he cheekily made a comment about his poker hand. Ironically, John became a very good cards player himself. After the Normandy invasion, John was seconded to the Ministry of Information, which became SHAEF (Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditonary Forces) where his job was to send all the communiqués issued by headquarters.

In December 1945, John was called up to the RAF for national service and was posted to India and Ceylon, which he very much enjoyed apart from the food. John witnessed first hand the tension amongst the religious sects around partition and independence.

In 1948 he was de-mobbed from the RAF and returned to United Press where he was fortunate to cover the London Olympics. It was in this year that he met Joan at West Ham speedway, which attracted crowds of 80,000 in those days. Because of John’s press pass, they were able to access the press boxes at all the speedway stadiums, as well as at ice hockey at Wembley and professional tennis tournaments. They married in 1952.

Unfortunately, in 1956, John was diagnosed with TB and ultimately spent 11 months in a sanitorium in Chelmsford. Not only difficult health wise, it was hard financially, and to make ends meet, John and a fellow patient, made artificial flowers and jewellery from their beds, with the help of Joan as “their man on the outside”. It was a veritable cottage industry. It was whilst at the sanitorium that John became the editor of the hospital newspaper, The Hypodermic. Combining his love for high drama sport and his gift with the written word, the highlights were his reports on inter hospital shove-halfpenny matches!

When discharged, John got his lucky break. At a Royal Air Force Association function, he met a friend who was working at a stockbroking firm, that needed a teleprinter operator and a forty-five year career in the Stock Exchange was born. Originally in the back office, John was told that he was wasting his time and should be in the market. He started as a blue button, which is a trainee dealer and graduated to dealer far quicker than normal in only 18 months, becoming a member in 1968, enabling him to retain 50% of all commission that he generated. It was through the Stock Exchange that he became Secretary of the Royal Air Force Association Stock Exchange branch, where he raised significant money over the decades for the RAFA charity. It was through this association that John met many fascinating people and war heroes, including Sir Douglas Bader, Dame Vera Lyn and Oliver Philpot who was involved in the wooden horse escape from a German prisoner of war camp. Stockbroking was also a conduit by which John met many other influential and interesting people. For example, he spent time in the Bahamas closing down the Slater Walker business, he was a technical adviser to a TV drama about the City and one of his best clients and friends owned Shepperton Studios which he visited many times for long lunches!

In the 60s, John ventured into local politics when John and Joan lived in Corringham. They formed The Rate Payers Association and John wrote a local magazine called The Ratepayer. Through this, they were able to pressurise the council to make significant changes to dangerous road junctions and poorly maintained roads. The 60s was also a significant decade for John and Joan as they completed their family with the arrival of Neale and Patricia.

In the late 70s and 80s, John, and other partners opened up private members clubs in the City. Namely, The City Gate Club, The Square Mile and The Rostrum Club. These businesses were very lucrative until both the general licensing laws were de-regulated, and the Americans quashed City long-lunch culture. Fortunately, John was able to sell his interests at the right time!

In 1984, John and Joan moved to Thorpe Bay where they were very happy for many years. The move completed a circle because John’s only childhood holidays were to Southend.

In August of this year, John and Joan celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary. John had a very interesting and long life, in which he overcame some difficulties such as rickets as a child, TB and the crash of 1987. However, he was always a glass half full person and will be truly missed by family and friends.