Psychiatric Bulletin (2002) 26: 199. doi: 10.1192/pb.26.5.199
© 2002 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
Psychiatric Bulletin (2002) 26: 199
© 2002 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
Leonard Crome MC
Former Pathologist, Fountain Hospital
Ilana Crome
Len was born on 14 April 1909 in Dvinsk, Russia, and died on 5 May 2001 in
Stoke-on-Trent, England. He qualified in medicine in Edinburgh in 1934. Soon
after, in 1936, he became concerned with the situation in Spain and decided to
give his medical skills in the fight against fascism. By the age of 28, as
permanent chief of the medical services serving the XIth and XVth Brigades, he
improvised life-saving treatment in makeshift conditions such as tents,
railway carriages and
caves.
In the Second World War Len served with the Royal Army Medical Corp in
North Africa and Italy and was awarded the Military Cross for bravery at the
Battle of Monte Cassino.
After demobilisation, in 1947, he decided to concentrate on the pathology
of learning disability. He trained at St Mary's Hospital under Alexander
Fleming and Wilfrid Newcomb and, since he wished to specialise in
neuropathology, he worked with Alfred Meyer and Elisabeth Beck at the Maudsley
Hospital. In 1956 he became a pathologist at the Fountain Hospital — an
international centre for the treatment and prevention of learning disability.
He regarded himself as an ‘ombudsman for the dead’ and was
scrupulous in obtaining permission for post-mortems from the relatives. He
published widely and wrote a much quoted Pathology of Mental
Retardation with Jan Stern, where his meticulous wide-ranging experience
added substantially to a fresh understanding of the aetiology of learning
disability, and, thereby dispelled ancient myths.
He was much respected, generous and kind as a professional collaborator,
and he welcomed students and colleagues from around the world. Fluent in many
languages and receptive to many cultures, he was a ‘citizen of the world
on the side of the underprivileged’. He was a principled, courageous and
honest man, qualities that sometimes were interpreted as controversial.
He was steeped in Russian culture, which suited him as the Chairman of the
Society for Cultural Relations in the USSR from 1969-1976. In addition he was
Chairman of the International Brigade Association, which he held until his
death. After ‘retirement’ he wrote Unbroken. Resistance and
Survival in the Concentration Camps, a book about resistance in the
German concentration camps.
In March 2001 the Government's new strategy document on learning disability
stated that ‘forgotten generations of people with learning disability
lost out... a revolution in care is needed... the four key principles of civil
rights, independence, choice and inclusion’ all lie at the heart of the
Government's proposals. These principles were at the heart of Len's
professional and political belief. He was 50 years ahead of his time.
He is survived by two sons, John and Peter, a geriatrician.
