MAUD Rosenthal, mother of television presenter Jim Rosenthal and widow to the late Albi, passed away peacefully at her home in Boars Hill on December 18.

Mrs Rosenthal was four months short of her 99th birthday.

She had a lifelong connections with Oxford. Her father, the scholar Dr Oscar Levy, editor of the first complete English edition of Nietzsche's works, spent the war here and died at White Rock, Boars Hill, in 1946.

Mrs Rosenthal and her husband moved to Boars Hill from Church Cowley Road in 1942, having left London after the Blitz and transferred their antiquarian bookselling business, A. Rosenthal Ltd - founded in 1935 and still in existence - to the city.

With their growing family, they moved in late 1948 to Half Acre, where their two youngest children were born.

In January 1955, the couple took over the renowned music firm Otto Haas, founded in 1866.

Whilst Mr Rosenthal increasingly divided his time between Oxford and London, Mrs Rosenthal focused on local interests.

She gave support to fundraising activities at Magdalen College School, where her son Jim excelled on the sports field, helped with the growth and publicising of the Oxford Subscription Concerts, and supported the Oxford University Orchestra, of which her husband was a member.

Mrs Rosenthal also served on the committee of the Churchill Memorial Concerts, held annually at Blenheim Palace, and also found time to support local Liberal Party activities.

From the 1970s, Mrs Rosenthal's greatest wish was for community cohesion, that the inhabitants of Boars Hill should get to know each other better and have a varied programme of activities.

With Michael and Phyllis Fogarty, she and her husband were co-founders of the Boars Hill Association, which thrives to this day, and the hosts of numerous cultural events, mainly at Half Acre.

As secretary, Mrs Rosenthal oversaw the production of most of the association's newsletters, which have now reached issue 170.

She presided at the last lecture at Half Acre on Handel's London on November 25.

Having served on the residents' committee from its inception, she was latterly elected an honorary member.

Her long involvement with the Oxford Preservation Trust, going back over 25 years, led to her appointment as patron of the Boars Hill committee in May 2006.

Since her husband's death, in August 2004, Mrs Rosenthal continued to travel abroad regularly, maintaining her links with Switzerland and the South of France and remained a partner in Otto Haas, supporting its renewed activities.

She is survived by three of her four children - Jackie, Jim and Julia.