Benjamin Coll --- or Benjy, as he was known at DHS -- was an unassuming but pleasant and good humoured classmate.  He was in our cohort in third form in 1958, but repeated a year and passed his JC exams in 1960 with the class of 1962.

Benjamin did military training after leaving school.   He married Barbara Davidson in 1967 and they had two children, a son David and a daughter Lisa.

During his boyhood Benjamin's family had built a large, 5 -storey block of flats on Davenport Road, which they named Benzelia.  Eventually Benjamin and Barbara took over the ownership and operation of this property.  They also ran a very successful upholstery business, Barnard and Holliday, which they sold after many years, in the 1990s.

Benjamin joined the class website in 2013, but thereafter never visited the site or participated in any of our class activities,  so we have very limited knowledge of his later life.

Unfortunately Barbara died in in 2020 after a long illness.  Benjamin's health deteriorated very quickly after her death.  He moved to the Beth Shalom retirement and nursing home in Durban, where one of the other residents was his classmate Selwyn Sklarchik.  Despite his strapping build, Benjamin lost the use of his legs and required a carer to help him with his movements.  

Benjamin Coll passed away in Durban on 7 April, 2025.  He is survived by his son David, who lives in the UK, and his daughter Lisa, who lives in Australia.

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 [Special thanks to Sid Rosen, for his help with this In Memory notice]