Jonathan Tyler obituary: The former Sheriff of York who was a passionate green campaigner
Jonathan Tyler, who has died at 85, was a transport expert and Green Party activist who served as Sheriff of York in 2016-2017.
Born in Reading in June 1940, he joined British Rail as a traffic apprentice in 1962 and was later sponsored to become a university lecturer.
He was lecturing in transport at Birmingham University when he stood as the first parliamentary candidate for the Ecology Party, forerunner of the Green Party, in the 1976 Walsall North by-election.
He went on to chair the national party until 1979, six years before it was renamed. He also chaired the York Environment Forum for several years.
In 2015 he contested the York Central constituency for the Greens, winning 10 per cent of the vote.
From 2000 Mr Tyler ran the York-based Passenger Transport Network consultancy and in 2024 produced proposals for a Swiss-style public transit network for the region which advocated different modes of transport, better timetabling and simpler fares.
A lifelong Quaker, he is survived by his wife Brenda and two children.