Arthur first met PB as a young man in the late 1940s and was a student and frequent visitor until PB’s death in 1981. In 1949, while PB was in Copenhagen, Arthur assisted him in the writing of The Spiritual Crisis of Man. Born in the Netherlands, he spent World War II underground while working on his PhD thesis in Economics, and then worked as a librarian at the Royal Library in the Hague.
For over thirty years Arthur spent his vacations with PB, joining him wherever he was living or staying to help him with secretarial work, correspondence, and to help PB move his possessions when PB changed residence. Later in his life, Arthur wrote articles on various aspects of philosophy, in Dutch and English, and many of these articles were presented as talks at conferences of the Spiritual Frontiers Fellowship organization and at the Theosophical Society in Holland. Two articles written by Arthur can be found on the Wisdom’s Goldenrod website; one is about Miguel de Molinos and the other is about Gerard Groote.
Arthur was a true gentleman; a quiet, intelligent and perceptive philosopher who revealed a keen sense of humor and a comprehensive knowledge of PB’s writings underneath a quiet reserve. He was fluent in four languages and introduced many people to PB. His friends were inspired and changed by his example of devoted service and by his attempt to live philosophically as he learned from personally from PB and from his writings.
— Alan Berkowitz
