IRVING Weinman was a tall, soft spoken, genial American who lived in Lewes with his wife, Judith Kazantzis, a noted poet in her own right, the daughter of Lord and Lady Longford, and the sister of Antonia Fraser.

Irving Weinman was born in Boston and died suddenly of a heart attack aged 78. Irving was truly a Renaissance Man.

He was the child of Romanian Jewish parents, who lived in Paris before emigrating in the 1930’s to Boston in the USA.

His mother spoke seven languages and he grew up in a household where French, Yiddish and Russian were spoken.

Irving was a lawyer and an accomplished jazz pianist before turning his talents to poetry, short stories and crime novels.

He wrote four novels - Tailor's Dummy, Hampton Heat, Virgil's Ghost and Easy Way Down as well as a volume of poetry, Eye of the Storm. His poetry appeared in a variety of magazines such as Rolling Stone and Poetry Review.

He was chairman of the Poet’s Workshop at the British Poetry Society and was executive director and co-founder of the Key West Writers’ Workshop.

Irving attended writing classes with Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton. He also helped found the Lewes Needlewriters. Irving also wrote powerful literary fiction.

Wolf Tones is funny and tough, a punchy, insightful portrait of a difficult father-son relationship, and ‘the sad arteriosclerosis of America’. Irving was educated at Trinity College Dublin and Cambridge University before moving to Lewes.

Together with Judith and Naomi Foyle, Irving founded British Writers in Support of Palestine. Irving was very conscious of his Jewish upbringing and the maelstrom his parents had escaped from.

It was this which led him to become a signatory to Jews for Justice for the Palestinians and a Jewish anti-Zionist. In 2010 he was a driver for the Road to Hope Convoy to Gaza.

Irving took inspiration from the Jewish fight against anti-Semitism in Europe and was proud to be Jewish.

As a member of Brighton Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Irving regularly attended demonstrations and activities.

Recently, Irving published books on the craft of fiction, and was writing short stories based on his family history, including the experience of refugees.

Irving is survived by Judith Kazantzis and her daughter Miranda, his son and daughter in America, Michael and Zoe, as well as grandchildren.