Cyril Wick, a race car driver who “dressed British, thought Yiddish” died April 10 in London. The cause was Covid-19. He was 90.

Born in London to Jewish immigrants from Poland and Lithuania, he was educated at the prestigious Harrow School, where he faced anti-Semitic taunts during sporting matches. Later, an avid sailor, he would light Shabbat candles aboard his boat at the posh Lymington Harbour.         “He was like James Bond,” his stepdaughter Barbara Balaban said. “He raced cars and wore cool suits and did cool things and was passionately Jewish,” supporting numerous Jewish institutions, including nonprofits for the blind and disabled and a number of Orthodox groups. “His approach was very much ‘dress British, think Yiddish,’ she said. “He spoke like an old Harrovian, also sang songs in Yiddish and dirty Russian.”

Cyril Wick founded the engineering firm Diffusion Alloys, where he developed a number of techniques for coating metals in chrome and titanium.