Tributes have been paid to a “true gentleman” and a military veteran from Swansea who has died after suffering with cancer.
David Rosser-Owen, who was 78, has been described as a significant figure in the post-war history of Islam in Britain, having converted to the religion almost 60 years ago.
Born in Swansea in 1943 to a Welsh-Scottish family, Mr Rosser-Owen grew up as a devout Christian, attending St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church of Wales in St Helen’s Road, which was later to become Swansea Mosque. Get all our latest Swansea stories here
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As a teenager he moved to Shrewsbury and, after finishing school, joined the Army and was sent to the Far East Land Forces in Singapore. He had a distinguished military career in the British Army, rising to the rank of captain, and served in Brunei, Singapore, and in Peninsular Malaysia.
Mr Rosser-Owen, a talented linguist who spoke French, German, Malay-Indonesian and studied Arabic and Malay at London University, worked as a writer, journalist, and editor for Islamic World Review, the Islamic World Defence Magazine, Arabia, Armada International, and later for Q-News International. He also served as war correspondent and stringer for the New Straits Times during the Bosnia-Croatia War between 1992 and 1995 and was a military adviser to the Bosnian Government.
In terms of community activism Mr Rosser-Owen has been described as a vital link between the pre-war and post-war generations of converts to Islam. Alongside others he established the Association of British Muslims in 1976. He was also a member of the Chartered Institute of Journalists, a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, and was a proud Freeman of the City of Swansea.
He had been treated for cancer and died on Sunday, December 5, at a hospital on the island of Islay where he had been living in later life. His funeral will take place at Swansea Central Mosque after zuhr prayers (around 12.30pm) on Monday (December 13). A burial will then take place at Danygraig Cemetery, Port Tennant, Swansea.
Paying tribute to him Mr Rosser-Owen’s family said: “It’s been so wonderful to read all of the tributes flooding in about David. Most remember him as a true gentleman, a man of strong principles, and as someone to enjoy a good conversation with.
“It seems very fitting to be laying him to rest in Swansea and that his funeral should be taking place at the former church he attended as a boy.”
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