David Charlaff

OSTEOPATH David Charlaff, who died in December aged 71, did not just use his talents to ease aches and pains for his fellow humans, he trained to deliver care to horses and occasionally could even be found treating the necks of friends’ pet dogs.

David, who ran his practice from Burghley Road, Kentish Town, was originally from Cape Town, South Africa, but lived in London and Europe for more than four decades.

Born in 1952, his family were of Ashkenazi Jewish heritage, part of the southern African diaspora from the Russian empire.

His grandparents settled in the Cape Town neighbourhood of District Six, where people of different ethnic backgrounds lived together, and his father Solly owned a series of shops called Paperbacks. His mother, Sybil, was a housewife.

David went to the University of Cape Town to study art, and created what were seen as outrageous installations, using baths of blood and experimenting with encasing objects in latex.

In the late 1960s he met Marsha Sanders and the couple moved to London after racist the South African government sent bulldozers into District Six.

They had their first child, Mali, and their daughter Leyla was born when they were lived in Elze, Germany.

Shortly after Leyla’s birth, David separated from Marsha and came back to this country and trained as an osteopath and acupuncturist, founding the North End Practice in Burghley Road, later moving the business to Highgate.

He became a go-to for dancers seeking specific help and focused on pregnant women, and treated many people suffering from gastric and respiratory conditions.

David met Lizza Aiken in the 1980s. They got together and David set about repairing a house in Elze, where he, Lizza and the children spent holidays before the couple separated in the early 2000s.

David’s second calling was art; he continued sculpting, surreal drawing and painting throughout his life. He enjoyed cooking, creating a great tomato bredie, which is a South African meat stew. He used to make bobotie, a Cape Malay dish described by his son Mali as a “shepherd’s pie with raisin, currants and egg”.

David enjoyed playing the flute and guitar and dabbled with the cello and harmonica too. Music-wise, he loved Bob Dylan and anything heralding from the hippie movement of the 1960s and 1970s.

African jazz was also a favourite – Basil Coetzee, Dollar Brand and Abdullah Ibrahim graced his stereo. He also continued to create art. He is survived by his one remaining sister, Zan, his four children, Mali, Leyla, Belou and Emil, by Marsha, Lizza and five grandchildren – Kai, Albie, Johnny, Anna and Torin.