A much loved Hebrew teacher and Manchester hospital chaplain, Jan Fuchs came to England with the Free Czech Army.
The second of three children of a family doctor in an industrial Czech town, he went to Denmark for agricultural training, planning to reach Palestine, after Hitler grabbed the Sudetenland in 1938. His mother died in 1932. His father died in Theresienstadt in 1945.
In Denmark, where Jews were safe till 1943, he was a youth leader in the Chalutz (Pioneer) movement. In England he found his sister, who was studying there before the war, and his brother.
After the war he met his wife, Joan, and settled in Manchester as a postman.Their son, Simon, was born in 1954. His wife's death in 1966 was a devastating blow but he brought up his son.
A few years later he trained as a teacher with Manchester's director of Hebrew education, Dr Judah Slotki. At 60 he became shamash for the Sephardi congregation in South Manchester.
In retirement he was involved with youth through teaching and the South Manchester Jewish Youth Club and Outreach, whose members loved hearing his story. As chaplain he visited Withington Hospital and the Manchester Royal Infirmary up to five years ago.
He spoke at conferences in Britain and Germany, studied literature and wrote poetry, including two pieces in the Reform Movement prayer books.
He is survived by his son.