Maurice Kaye, Britain’s longest married man, dies aged 106
Bournemouth resident married to Helen Kaye, 105, for 84 years, leaving two surviving children, seven grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren
Maurice Kaye, believed to be Britain’s longest married man, has died aged 106.
He and his wife, Helen, 105, of Bournemouth, were married for 84 years and met four years previously when Maurice Kaye was a travelling salesman for his father’s clothing business.
The couple have two surviving children, Tina Son and Larry Kaye, seven grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
Speaking to Jewish News following his passing on Monday, his daughter Tina said: “We’ve had the most amazing messages from people and they all talk about his sense of humour. He could just hold the whole room to attention.
“He touched so many people, who saw him as their adopted grandfather. We always appreciated what an incredible person he was.
“In many ways he was a renaissance man. He was a poet, a philosopher, an entrepreneur. He left school at 14 and was completely self taught, but one of the best read people I’ve ever known. He was so many things.
“If I had told him that, he would say that I was mad, because he never thought of himself as special. He was just incredible.”
After celebrating their anniversary last year, Maurice said: “So much has changed, but we still have each other, thank God.We had a great day with fabulous entertainment from our gorgeous great-grandchildren. Now on to the next milestone.”
At the time, Tina added her parents were an “inspiration to everyone who knows them and we count ourselves truly blessed.”
She described her mother as being “very stylish, having her hair done twice a week and her nails done every Friday,” and her father as still having “the same wicked sense of humor and zest for life.”
The couple said they could have been celebrating four additional years of married bliss were it not for the fact that Helen had not been allowed to marry sooner, as she had an older sister and tradition dictated that she should have the chance to wed first.
After they married in 1934, Maurice Kaye went on to manage his father’s factory and two shops in London before joining the army in 1939.
In 1944, the couple’s factory, shops and home were destroyed in the war, leading them to move to Bournemouth, where they raised their four children.
“I didn’t think it would last a week, but it’s amazing it’s lasted 80 years,” Maurice told Jewish News jokingly several years ago about his marriage.
In that interview, he offered the secret to their happy marriage: always agreeing with his wife.
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
