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Randolph Hazel |
‘He deserved to be honoured’
MP Karen Buck leads tributes to black historian and community stalwart
IVAN Randolph Hazel, who has died aged 85, devoted his life to better people’s understanding of black history.
His death, following a long-running battle with cancer, has shocked the North Westminster community – many who had no idea he was ill.
Mr Hazel had for years kept his debilitating illnesses – including diabetes, partial blindness and terminal cancer – a secret to protect his children looking after his sick wife.
His daughter Makeda Ferguson, 44, said: “He never complained of any illness. On the day he died he went to pick up mum from the hospital but she had already left. When he got home the carer opened the door and he just said ‘O dear’ and collapsed. No one knew he had prostate cancer. We found out he had 20 per cent vision. I would never have believed he was blind – the way he would look at you in the eye it really made you sit up and listen. You would ask him how he was and he would say things like ‘can’t complain’ or ‘mustn’t grumble’ – ‘all right so far’, he’d say that a lot. He was also diabetic and used to do his own insulin. He never wanted anyone to know because we were here helping mum.”
A stalwart of the Paddington community, Mr Hazel made a colossal contribution to many lives in North Westminster.
He founded the Dutch Pot black pensioners club, The Cultural Art Network and organised annual black history events in Paddington.
He volunteered at the Queen’s Park Family Support Unit, Paddington Law Centre and the black history archive Yaa Asentewaa Centre in Paddington.
Labour MP Karen Buck, who spoke at his funeral, said: “I was proud to know Mr Hazel, and sorry that his death came before we had the chance to recognise him in the Honours – something which some of his friends were working. Few people would have deserved it more.”
Leroy Pitter, welfare lawyer at the Paddington Law Centre and close friend, said: “He was a charming man; very sharp. He could talk about issues locally, nationally and internationally.”
Born in St Kitts in the Caribbean Mr Hazel moved to Third Avenue, Queen’s Park, in the late 1950s, where he met his wife Veronica, and started a family.
He worked for Royal Mail in the Mount Pleasant sorting office from 1960 until 1982.
Ms Ferguson, a former pupil of North Westminster community school in Paddington, told how her dad used his retirement to nurture his passion for history, politics and education – and wine-making.
She said: “He was interested in politics, history and believed in education. I remember how at school he would attend all the parents meetings and give the teachers a run for their money. He always had lots of questions and had an interest in what we were doing. He was brilliant at making things too and he even started making his own wine in the house. We still have the bottles.”
A religious man, he spent time at the Ethiopian Coptic Church, the Salvation Army and at the Fernhead Road Methodist Church.
Ms Hazel said: “He was a great believer in the good book. He would say it forms the basis of your history.”
In later life Mr Hazel had begun to write and Ms Hazel has recently discovered some lines he had composed.
The end of life is to do the will of God
Nothing is troublesome that we do willingly
The noble mind has no resentment
Over all our tears God’s rainbow bends
A pitying ear He lends
Mr Hazel leaves behind his wife Veronica, two sons Leon and Jeffrey, three grandchildren and five great grandchildren. |
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