Arnold Wagner steps down after 15 years’ service at JFS

Businessman Arnold Wagner has retired as a governor at JFS after 15 years in the role - ten of them as chair of governors.

Mr Wagner, 59, took up that post in 1993 - on the day that Ruth Robins, now Dame Ruth Robins, became head teacher. The pair were instrumental in the £35 million development of JFS's new premises in Kenton, Middlesex - one of the biggest projects in Anglo-Jewry.

It is the memory of this achievement that Mr Wagner says he will take away with him. "We took it through conceptualisation, planning and building. It took a chunk out of our lives but it was great," he tells People. "I drive past quite often. It's wonderful to see what I and a lot of other people sweated for." Mr Wagner, a director of human resources for an engineering firm by profession, was awarded an OBE for his efforts. To mark his retirement, JFS president Lord and Lady Levy hosted a dinner at the school in his honour.

A father of four, he lives in Kenton, Middlesex.