Basil Aschkenasy died of a heart attack following kidney failure on 19 December 2005.

Basil was born in Romania. His family fled west in the late 1940s, settling first in Rome, where Basil studied at the university for a year. The rest of his family then emigrated to South America but he came to England to study at the then Chelsea College School of Pharmacy (now incorporated into King's College London). After a period of research work at Beechams he went to Dorking Hospital as pharmacist and then to the Maudsley where he ran the pharmacy for a quarter of a century, up to his (slightly early) retirement. Basil was not only a technical expert but was also a very social pharmacist. He initiated the practice of pharmacists attending ward rounds and is remembered by all who knew him as a source of accurate pharmaceutical information in absolutely any situation.

Even after his retirement Basil was a fixture in the Maudsley and Institute of Psychiatry canteens where, it was fondly said, he was trying single-handedly to recreate the café society of pre-war Bucharest, in the face of an increasingly stressful ‘grab a sandwich and run’ culture.

Basil married in 1958 and although formally divorced 20 years ago, remained close to his wife, two daughters and two grandchildren, who survive him.