My father-in-law, Hugh Sacker, who has died aged 92, was hit by a bolt of enlightenment when he stumbled while out on a walk in September 1978. Hugh was convinced that years of philosophical anguish had finally crystallised in his mind the insight required for humanity to leave the karmic conflicts of ignorant times behind and enter an era of peace.
He began preaching that there is only one mantra worth knowing: “No coercion.” The only law humanity needs, he insisted, is to forbid bullying of any kind. Teaching others the profundity of these two words required much patience on his part.
Born in Stourbridge, Worcestershire, to Fred Sacker, an industrialist, and his wife, May (nee Potts), Hugh was educated at Christ’s Hospital school in Horsham, West Sussex. After doing military service in 1943-47 in Palestine, he studied medieval German literature at Cambridge. He was on the academic staff of London University from 1954 until 1968, when he took a break and travelled the world, before returning to a professorship at Trinity College Dublin, in 1971.
Hugh said that he “grew young rather late”. To catch up, he took early retirement in 1975 and resolved never to work for money again. Choosing to settle in an old farmhouse – Knockandarragh – in the Irish countryside, he and his partner, Alma Carruthers, nurtured a family of six children, and a home that was an alternative world welcoming of all who wanted to enter.
Alma died of breast cancer in 1992. Obol (his nickname from school) is survived by their children, Laotse, Kali, Liberty, Stephen, Siobhan and Impi, and five grandchildren who continue to seek inspiration from the words of wisdom he shared with them.
