Sir Alcon Copisarow was born 25 June 1920, to Maurice Copisarow (a distinguised research chemist) and Eda (née Cohen). Educated at Manchester University, Imperial College London and the Sorbonne, he spent his career as a scientific civil servant and management consultant.

He worked for a number of organisations including scientific attaché and then counsellor at the British Embassy in Paris, reorganising Conservative central office for Margaret Thatcher and a trustee at the Eden Project. He was a trustee of several charities, including Prince Philip’s Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme. He also advised King Charles on the merger in 1986 of two of his charities, the Youth Business Initiative and theYouth Enterprise Scheme, to form the Prince’s Youth Business Trust, of which he was the first chairman.

He married Diana Castello in 1954 and they had 4 children. He was knighted in 1988. Diana Copisarow became a trustee of the Victoria and Albert Museum and founded the Personal Support Unit (a charity supporting people who had to represent themselves in court) in 2001. She was made an OBE in 2004.

Sir Alcon Copisarow died 2 August 2017.