Every 'hurrah' when a good bottle of red is open is with you in mind xx Still miss you

Peter you're still there when I walk round Highgate, & still a reassuring presence when I drive.

Peter: I still seem to see you round Highgate, & feel you in the car when I drive up to Nottingham or visit a garden. I was so lucky to have loved you for so long - nearly 20yrs.

Peter, it doesn't seem like 3 years since you left us. I still feel the warmth of your good humour and intellect, and I miss our weekly discussions, usually with Carol, and sometimes May, about politics, medicine, culture, and the world. Would you have left so soon had you known how much more 'fat' there was to chew? Tom

Three years on, & still so many things remind me of you and how lucky I was that you played such a huge role in my life and made me feel better about myself.

Epitaph on a Friend by Robert Burns: "An honest man here lies at rest, The friend of man, the friend of truth, The friend of age, and guide of youth; Few hearts like his, with virtue warm'd, Few heads with knowledge so inform'd; If there's another world, he lives in bliss; If there is none, he made the best of this."

Music brings you to my mind so often. Slow & mournful, reflective & soft, or vigorous & rousing, there's a piece of music for all of you. X

We miss you so much, Dad.You were a man of enormous passion and principle and I wish I had told you I admired those qualities. I had no idea how many charities you supported and your vital role in the development of public health policy- you really played that down, hey? I don't think you remembered giving us Labour party posters to colour in for you in your campaign days- 'How now Brown cow.' Nick and I were given crayons to colour in the cow! I remember it well. You grew lots of vegetables and fruit and Mum made bread: with your aran jumper, you were really living 'The Good Life!' We had some great holidays in the caravan with Will and Nick sleeping in the awning- it saved Nick and I arguing about who had the top bunk. Icecream was your downfall- always an irresistible treat, especially vanilla. Along with a good pint of beer, you were happy! We have so many precious memories and we will love you always Dad, Grandpa xxxx

Wishing you were still here xx

Peter and I married 16 years ago, having met at a Labour Party meeting. He brought warmth, colour and spontaneity into my life. He was often up at 4am too full of ideas to sleep. One morning he woke me up then too and insisted that I should come and hear the birds singing the dawn chorus. We listened to that glorious chorus from across Highgate from the veranda of our flat. I'd never heard it before and it is such a precious memory of us 'harnessing the highs'.

Peter was one of the most profound influences on my life. I was a medical student at Guy's in the 1970s, and Peter became my mentor and friend. I worked on the USHP pamphlet on the NHS and the mass media with Peter, Gordon Best, John Denis, James Partridge and Jennies Popay and Griffiths. Wonderful times. Peter was a warm, kindly man. I never knew him to be bad tempered, but impatience with others who were less mentally agile than he rippled below the surface. When I knew him he did not consider himself to be bipolar, but most of us who knew him did.When high he would bristle with new ideas - requiring considerable effort from his team to put into effect - but when low, he would reteat into his office in Newcomen Street, and go to earth for days at end, emitting clouds of cigar smoke. His position at Guy's was equivocal. Although it considered itself the most enlightened and progressive of the London medical schools (which it probably was), Peter was a bit much for them to swallow. Nevertheless he had powerful supporters including Maurice Lessof and Harry Keen, and his own political nouse enabled him to navigate the shoal waters of medical academia. A true original. A good man and a formidable intellect. Steve

The Guardian has published an excellent obituary by Alex Scott-Samuel, highlighting Peter's pivotal contribution to healthy public policy in the UK, especially concerning the social and economic determinants of health, and his strong humanist values. See: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/aug/22/peter-draper-obituary

Peter was a unique person, impossible at times, but brilliant and utterly committed. The work he led at the Unit for the Study of Health Policy, Department of Community Medicine, Guy's Hospital Medical School, where I was a research assistant in the 1970s, was truly ground-breaking and resonates to this day. Concepts and ideas such as sustainable development, ecological public health, the determinants of health and the influence of the mass media on health, owe much to his pioneering verbal and written contributions. He was both deeply read and original, and also great fun to be with. I owe him a huge debt of gratitude: the values and principles that underpinned his work shaped mine for the rest of my life down to the present day. I have not yet accepted that you are no longer with us. With love, Jenny Griffiths

Dear Peter As is often the case, I learned more about your early life since you moved on and felt privileged to be part of the family’s celebration of you. We met when you were first going out with and then married my best friend Carol – and her delight that when the three of us went to dinner, there would be three puddings to share and not just two! How right (and practical) she was – we had some lovely times together, especially at New Years and seeing Nina Simone was a particular highlight. And the fact that you chose to have what was to be your last meal with Carol, Tom and me means a great deal. Like everyone who knew you, I admire and respect your intellectual curiosity, your values and principles and your great concern for the welfare of other people – even using your own experience of ill health to benefit others living with the same condition. Personally, I loved your kindness, your great ability to listen, your sense of fun and the interest and care you and Carol had for my son Nathan. But what I will miss most is that delightful twinkle in your eyes! Much love Kathy xx

Peter became an important part of my life in 1999 when he married my lovely mum and we became family. The last 16 years seems to have sped by and I wish we had done even more things and that I could remember it all! He was such a kind, good man, with a true sense of responsibility for the world he lived in and strong values to want to make the world a better place. I always admired his confidence in having intelligent and passionate left wing, humanist views that he wasn’t afraid to speak out for. I joined the British Humanist Society a few years ago and am pleased to follow his footsteps in this way, remembering him as one of the inspirations for the kind of person I want to be. He also had a lovely capacity to enjoy so much (and never happier than sharing a terrible pun!) and every time I crack open a bottle of fizz and the cork goes pop, I shall continue to "hurrah" as we always did and think of him always. I will picture him recently sitting in his armchair at home in Highgate, reading the newspaper and at times loving and at times probably despairing of the chaos that I brought with me when we came to visit, with my husband, Matt, and our two children Aimee and Eve, who would cover the living room with toys or cartwheel on the rug. The dancing flowers will always dance. Love you Peter.

I am a few years younger than Peter; when he was a student at Manchester University I was a young teenager, whose parents were founder members of the Manchester Humanist Fellowship. I remember being tremendously impressed by his clear thinking and articulacy at the meetings. Over the years I have followed his letters in the Guardian with interest. Today the loving Death Notice ends the story. I send my sympathy to his family who were lucky to have had him all these years. Yours, Nesta Ross

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