My father, David Charlaff, who has died aged 71, was an osteopath committed to a “pay-what-you-can” business model – he accepted recompense in any form, from a token fee to artwork, theatre tickets or just a thank-you. As a result his practice in north London was a cross between a contemporary art gallery and a museum of anatomy, complete with flamingo skeletons and bottled sharks.
David was born into a Jewish family in Cape Town, South Africa, where his father, Solly, was the owner of a printing company and his mother, Sybil (nee Slome), was a housewife. Despite apartheid-era antisemitism, David’s sporting prowess gave him access to such national institutions as the Junior Springboks rugby team.
After attending South African College school in Cape Town, as a young adult he ran a mobile disco with a Black friend and formed an activist stage company, Chicken theatre. He began his military service in the South African navy, but avoided completing it by dressing up as “Captain South Africa” and feigning insanity, thereby annoying the authorities.
Amid rising political tensions in the 1970s, David and his then partner, Marsha Sanders, decided to emigrate to France. They settled there with their two children, Jess and Leyla, in a tiny mountain village in the Ardèche, where David worked as a goat farmer.
After he and Marsha separated in 1976, David moved to Britain in 1977 and began training at the European School of Osteopathy in Kent. During this time he lived in a caravan and also worked as a builder.
Once qualified as an osteopath in 1981, he established and ran the North End practice in Kentish Town, north London, then later worked alone at his own Northwood Road practice just off the Archway Road.
A talented painter and sculptor, after retiring in 2017 due to ill health he was able to focus more closely on his art. During his final years he produced several drawings a day and enjoyed playing his harmonica to his youngest baby grandson. He also loved film, music and literature.
In 1984, he married Lizza Aiken, an actor, with whom he had two children, Emil and me. The marriage ended in divorce in 2011.
He is survived by his four children, five grandchildren and a sister, Suzanne.
