York Greens mourn the death of Jonathan Tyler, lifelong Green Party campaigner, passenger transport expert and former Sheriff of York.
Former Sheriff of York and lifelong Green Party campaigner, transport expert and Quaker, Jonathan Tyler, passed away last weekend.
Green Party vice-chair, Denise Craghill, said “I have known Jonathan for most of the past 25 years that we have lived in York. His enthusiasm, persistence and belief that change for the good is possible were very infectious and inspiring.
“I have always felt very proud that one of the earliest founding members of the Green Party lived here in York. Jonathan was the Party’s first ever by-election candidate in 1976 and I’m told he was aware of and delighted by the party’s recent historic by-election win in Manchester last week, just days before his death in York Hospital.
“I know he will be very much missed both within the Green Party and across the many other areas of activity where he made such an impact.”
Former Lord Mayor of York, Dave Taylor, said, “It was an honour to have Jonathan and Brenda Tyler accompany us throughout our incredibly busy civic year. He was a lovely fellow as everyone knows, supremely intelligent, and also had a rather wicked sense of humour.”
Background
Jonathan Tyler was an early parliamentary candidate for the Ecology Party (the former name of the Green Party) in the 1976 Walsall North by-election, at a time when he was a transport lecturer at the University of Birmingham. He went on to be chair of the national party for 3 years, handing over to Jonathan Porritt in 1979.
More recently he stood as a candidate in local elections in York and was York Green Party’s candidate for York Central in 2015, winning 10% of the vote.
He also chaired the York Environment Forum for several years until 2010.
He started his career as a transport expert by joining British Rail as a Traffic Apprentice in 1962 and went on to become a British Rail-sponsored university lecturer. Since 2000 he ran a York based consultancy called Passenger Transport Networks. A Fellow of the Foundation for Integrated Transport, he specialised in making the case for ‘Swiss style’ public transport timetabling, believing that convenience and easy accessibility encourages people to use public transport options.
The funeral will take place on March 24th
