Jock Isacowitz

Joseph "Jock" Louis Isacowitz (7 February 1915 – 18 June 1974) was a South African Liberal Party politician, anti-apartheid activist and co-founder of the Springbok Legion. He was of Lithuanian Jewish descent. For a time he was a member of the South African Communist Party and identified as an atheist.

He fought in the Second World War with South African forces in East and North Africa, where he was a sergeant-major and was wounded in action.

Political career Prior to the formation of the Liberal Party, he co-led with advocate Jack Unterhalter, one of three separate liberal groups in Johannesburg.

He was a founding member of the Liberal Party, attending their inaugural meeting in Cape Town in 1953. He achieved his earlier aim by setting up meetings between the party and the ANC.

He was regarded as a threat by the apartheid government and banned from attending all meetings for two years. In the wake of the Sharpeville massacre in 1960, a State of Emergency was declared and he was jailed for 3 months.

Death He died of Leukemia on 30 January 1962, 18 months after his prison release. He was survived by his wife and children, as well as his mother, Sarah. Sarah died in Netanya in Israel in 1982 and Eileen died in 2010 in Johannesburg.