My friend Martin Lawn, who has died aged 78, was a key figure in Harlow, Essex, for more than 50 years, and an untiring advocate of the socialist cause. He was a member of Harlow council for nearly 20 years from the mid-1960s, and later its leader, and was a member of the Harlow Development Corporation, which oversaw the growth of the new town. At various times he chaired the Harlow Theatre Trust, the Princess Alexandra Hospital Trust and the Harlow Health Centres Trust.
Martin was born in Norwich, son of Bill and Elsie Lawn, who were Labour and Co-operative party activists; his father was a Co-operative education officer. As a conscientious objector during the second world war, Bill was sent to a social work post in the Midlands. Martin attended Huddersfield college, a grammar school in West Yorkshire, and subsequently Manchester University, where he obtained a BSc and an MSc in mathematics. His first job was as a trainee computer programmer at Littlewoods, the mail order and football pools company.
He moved to Harlow in 1960 to work at Standard Telecommunications as a programmer mathematician; by the time he left the company in 1990, he was director of technical and commercial support. Martin was elected to Harlow council in 1965 and served until 1983, stood as a parliamentary candidate for the Labour party in Huntingdonshire in 1966, and chaired Harlow Co-operative party. After leaving Standard Telecommunications, he became director of finance and deputy CEO for Essex Family Health Services Authority, based in Clacton, until his retirement in 1997.
He also chaired the young people’s organisation the Woodcraft Folk; served as a schools and Harlow College governor; and was a volunteer at the Gibberd Garden (created by Sir Frederick Gibberd, master planner of Harlow new town) and the St Clare Hospice. He was a supporter of numerous local sports clubs and charitable causes. To commemorate his 50 years in Harlow, in 2010 he commissioned a sculpture by Alistair McClymont, Bifurcation Inflation, which has been installed in the Gibberd Garden.
Martin is survived by his wife, Pat (nee Roberts), whom he married in 1974, their sons, Ben and Sam, and a granddaughter, Norah.
