Probably best known in recent years for his emollient presence among the prickly panelists on BBC Radio 4‘s The Moral Maze, Hugo Gryn was a tireless worker across a range of fields, central among them education.

This was quite aside from his religious duties. Senior Rabbi at the West London Synagogue, a centre of liberal Judaism, Hugo Gryn was one of the most respected figures in British Judaism as a whole.

He was the first major figure from a non-Christian faith to involve himself with religious education for the mass of British children. A survivor of Auschwitz, Rabbi Gryn saw RE as a force for tolerance and understanding among young peoples of different faiths, or no faith at all.

He was a longstanding member of the Religious Education Council - a meeting place of educationists and religious leaders - and chair of Westminster’s Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education.

He was one of the first co-chairs of the Inter-Faith Network and chair of the Standing Conference on Inter-Faith Dialogue in Education.

“What drew him to religious education was its potential for enabling youngers from different faiths and backgrounds to grow to understand each other, ” said Gwen Palmer, a friend and colleague of Rabbi Gryn on the RE Council.

Barbara Wintersgill, professional officer for religious education with the School Curriculum and Assessment Authority, said: “He’s the sort of person a lot of teachers may not have heard of apart from through The Moral Maze. But behind the scenes he was highly influential. It’s a huge loss.”