Tributes paid to former Hackney councillor
Steve Scott. Picture: Submitted by Ian Rathbone - Credit: Archant
A former Hackney councillor who spent his life working to serve the community has passed away aged 92.
Steve Scott moved to Clapton with his parents in the 1930s and attended Hackney Downs School - formerly The Grocers Company School.
It has become famous for the number of successful former pupils, such as Nobel Prize-winning writer Harold Pinter, painter Leon Kossoff, and actor Sir Michael Caine.
READ MORE: Interpreter who helped refugee children diesREAD MORE: Tributes to community activist and journalist who worked to ‘tip the scales towards equality’Later, in the 1970s and 1980s, Steve represented Dalston and Brownswood wards on Hackney Council, chairing the social services, finance, and libraries and amenities committees while also being the council’s main representative on local NHS bodies.
In this capacity he helped set up Homerton Hospital and was on the board of governors at Great Ormond Street Hospital.
He was also a local businessman, first managing the Mare Street branch of Easton Chemist for a Simon Woolf before he bought the shop and turned it into a travel agency, Easton Travel.
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Steve’s son Adam said: “It cemented dad’s community links because so many people came in from the local community to book their holiday, so he became part and parcel to the community.
“He was phenomenally intelligent to the extent that after my mother died in 2001, when dad was in his 70s, he kept himself busy by getting a law degree and went on to do a masters in medieval history.”
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When Steve moved to live in Victoria ward on the Christchurch Estate, he was an active member of the local residents’ association and the ward’s Labour Party.
Adam added: “He stood by Hackney and he wanted to be part of the community in which he was brought up, serving that community.”
Joannie Andrews, a former colleague and former chair of Victoria Ward Labour Party, said: “He was certainly committed to making life better for the people in his community and was a long-standing and active member of the Labour Party.”
Cllr Ian Rathbone, chair of Hackney Labour Party, added: “Steve was a solid councillor and worked hard for the people in his ward.
“He was a good administrator. He also set up a travel agency used by many people across Hackney to take their first holiday abroad.”
Steve, who enjoyed theatre, opera and fine dining, is survived by his son Adam and daughter Hilary.
