Obituary: Rufus Harris | Society | SocietyGuardian.co.uk: "Rufus Harris
Co-founder of Release, the group that gives legal advice to people on drugs charges
Steve Abrams
Monday April 30, 2007
The Guardian
In the summer of 1967 Rufus Harris, who has died of cancer aged 61, and the artist Caroline Coon formed Release, an underground organisation that provided legal advice and welfare services to young people arrested for drugs offences. Jonathan Aitken, who did much to smooth the way for Release, commented at the time that if Release did not exist it would have to be invented. High-profile clients included John Lennon and George Harrison, who donated £5,000 in 1969.
Release gained charitable status in 1972, following a review of its activities by the Rowntree Foundation. By the mid-1970s, Release had become 'official', supported directly by a Home Office grant, without compromising its libertarian principles. In June a conference will celebrate its 40th anniversary.
Rufus was the son of an entrepreneur of Dutch-German extraction born in 1881 and his much younger Finnish wife, a medical student stranded in London at the outbreak of the second world war. Rufus was educated at Brighton College and then studied painting at St Martin's College of Art and at Kingston College of Art. He lived in North Wales for a period before returning to Lon"
No comments:
Post a Comment