Rene Henri Liron was born in St Helier in 1925 and moved to Grouville, where he attended the Central School until he was 14.
He worked as a baker’s boy and remained in the island during the German Occupation, leaving after the Liberation to join the Royal Air Force and serving for three years. On his return to the island he had a number of jobs before buying an old van, which he converted to sell fish and chips.
He was so popular with his St Brelade customers that, when the brakes failed and the van ended up in the mud of St Aubin’s Harbour, with Mr Liron, his wife Simonne and brother Serge inside with him, they organised a fund-raising effort to buy him a new van.
He became a lorry driver for the Parish of St Helier, and an active member of the Transport and General Workers Union. In 1964 he was selected as Island official, and membership in Jersey grew from 3,500 to 6,000 on his retirement in 1990.
He was active politically but failed in two attempts to be elected to the States. He died in 2012, aged 87.
