Simon Kverndal, QC, 1958-2020
Numerous obituary tributes were paid to CRG member Simon Kverndal, reflecting his eminence, the high regard in which he was held in his chosen profession, his zest for life and his influence on his many interests.
CRG member Oliver Wise penned the following tribute for the MCC:
It is sad to record that Simon Kverndal QC died on 14 June 2020, at the age of 62.
Simon was a most charming and clubbable man: a member of MCC, the Queen’s Club, the Hawks, the Garrick, the Jesters, the Campaign for Real Gin, and the Worshipful Company of Shipwrights – of which he was Prime Warden at the time of his death. He had represented Cambridge at wine-tasting and was on the wine committees of the Middle Temple (where he was a Bencher), the Garrick and the Shipwrights.
Simon learned rackets at Haileybury; he remained a good enough player to compete in the amateur championship in his forties. At Cambridge he was four years in the real tennis team, and two years the captain.
Reading history, then law, he helped to revive the Cambridge University Monarchists Society and it gave him particular pleasure to organize a Monarchists dinner at Sidney Sussex, his – and Oliver Cromwell’s – college.
Simon enjoyed watching Test cricket at Lord’s. I had the honour of captaining him in real tennis matches at Lord’s when we played for MCC or the Bar; he was always in the first pair.
Simon revived the Garrick real tennis team and manged to persuade Alan Lovell and Andrew Page, both former MCC Gold Racquet players, to represent that club. As Sir Jonathan Cohen, a fellow MCC and Garrick real tennis player observed: “His enthusiasm and charm in support of his less able confreres was a tonic.” Another QC and leading amateur real tennis player, Bernard Weatherill said: “He was one of the good guys, nice to have as your partner when the going got tough and just about the fairest opponent you could want to have.”
He had a long battle with cancer. His clerk at the Shipwrights Company, Lieut-Col. Richard Cole-Macintosh, described him as “phenomenally brave” in relation to it.
On the day before his death Simon sent a final email from the Marsden to Bob Lawrence (MCC and the Garrick), with whom he had been corresponding about a tennis fixture against Bucks.
“Match point down. It’s been a good life. – Pip-pip, Simon.”
Please follow the links below for other tributes:
Quadrant Chambers (by Michael Howard KC)