Walter Case, the head of the New York firm of investment bankers, Messrs Case, Pomeroy and Co., had so many close associations with London and so many friends here that his tragic death should not pass without a few words to his memory.

He had been associated with a number of constructive undertakings, including the rehabilitation of the Southern Railway (U.S.A.) after the war, the Rhodesian Copper Mines in their early days, and various recent ventures in modern scientific prospecting in all parts of the world. As time went on his temperament led him increasingly into projects where entrepreneurship and pioneering courage were required, and he came to regard the purely financial and Stock Exchange sides of his business as mainly useful, in so far as they provided him with funds for the active development of the world's resources. He was outstanding among American financiers of the present generation for his almost fanatical enthusiasm for the application of science to business affairs, whether it was economic theory, chemistry, metallurgy, geology, or meteorology; and he was lavish in his expenditure on obtaining the best possible assistance and advice. He had built up a remarkable staff and organisation round him, his principal partner being Mr Walter Stewart, who had formerly acted as adviser to the Bank of England and the Federal Reserve Board.

While he was an avid reader of memoranda and expert reports and a lover of debate, he never wrote a letter or put pen to paper, and was addicted to the long-distance telephone even beyond ordinary American usage.