Tributes

George Vincent Hall 1915-2009

6 November 2009
George Hall was one of Australia's foremost cardiologists for more than 40 years. His polite and self-effacing manner belied a brilliant mind, limitless energy and a boundless sense of duty and dedication to his patients. His services were sought by governments, universities, hospitals, community leaders and ordinary people. He spent many years treating disadvantaged patients, who received from him the same high level of care and attention as the powerful and famous - but not the accounts. More

David Stephen 1928-2009

17 September 2009
David Stephen, a gentleman of the old school and never a follower of fashion, was somewhat eccentric in his love of things from olden times, especially cars. Yet he presided over a technological revolution in diagnostic radiology, as plain films gave way to modern scans. He practised his profession until four weeks before he died of acute leukaemia, just short of his 81st birthday. More

John Laycock 1921-2009

18 August 2009
Until a week before his death John Laycock was probably the oldest medical practitioner working in NSW. He was 88 and still doing 5½ days a week in his practice in Annandale. His last illness, an aortic aneurism, was brief. He enjoyed discussing his progress with his attending doctors. More

Beryl Collier 1928-2009

17 August 2009
There were times when Beryl Collier, an obstetrician on the Central Coast, could be vague and frustrating, such as the time when patient records were disappearing from her practice. Eventually, the records were found in her capacious and always untidy carry bag. However unorthodox her filing methods, though, her warm smile and calm, confident manner endeared her to patients. One of the privileges for anaesthetists who worked with her was to see her joy every time she delivered a baby. More

Chris O'Brien 1952-2009

6 June 2009
When Professor Chris O'Brien was told he had a malignant brain tumour in November 2006, the renowned Sydney head and neck cancer surgeon refused to bow to his poor prognosis. No one who knew him was surprised. Over the years he had helped thousands of cancer sufferers fight off their own sense of powerlessness, loneliness and fear, and believed passionately in the power of being positive. More

Minna Shaw Smith 1928-2009

12 June 2009
Minna Shaw Smith became a doctor when it was an uncommon career for women, worked in medical administration, left the Department of Health in protest and devoted her retirement to community organisations and charity. She began her degree in medicine at the University of Sydney in 1946, "with full scholastic and academic honours - and a penchant for angora knitting and card games", to quote the medical school yearbook. More

Eileen Collins 1952-2009

1 June 2009
Dermatology as a career could be regarded as somewhat unadventurous, but it took Eileen Collins to remote Arnhem Land to help patients. Her grandfather, Sir Archibald Collins, was the Queen's physician in Australia and president of the British Medical Association in Australia before the Australian Medical Association was formed. More

Geoff McDonald 1920-2008

25 October 2009
It can be hard to live in the shadow of a great man but Geoff McDonald followed his father into medicine then carved a distinguished career as his own man. His father, Sir Charles George ("CG") McDonald, was a doctor of note, specialising in thoracic diseases, and a founder and president of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians. More

Elizabeth Lloyd 1932-2009

2 May 2009
When patients came to see Dr Elizabeth Lloyd they knew to bring a packed lunch for the waiting room. Lloyd was of the era when GPs did everything, and it could be a while before she got to a patient, but she never left anyone untreated. More

Max Lake 1924-2009

18 April 2009
Max Lake reckoned Descartes got it wrong. It isn't that "I think therefore I am", but that "we are because we smell". In his book, Food On The Plate, Wine In The Glass, he wrote: "There is some merit in the idea that the thinking cortex developed from the olfactory input of our evolutionary past." More

David Johnson 1942-2008

29 December 2008
David Skeffington Johnson was an inveterate collector and hoarder: of Sepik artefacts, playful tin frogs with umbrellas dancing round his garden fountain, and of Greek statuary and urns. Then there were the books of every kind, often two and three copies: Latin and Greek dictionaries; Loeb editions of classical Greek authors; a wall, ceiling to floor, of travel guides; and tomes of medical history of classical, medieval and Renaissance times. More

Doug Tracy 1926-2009

23 April 2009
Doug Tracy, a noted surgeon with a gentle touch and infectious smile, had gained two university blues for boxing, a sport now opposed by medical associations in most developed countries. More

Paddy Grattan-Smith 1921-2009

10 March 2009
Paddy Grattan-Smith was sometimes seen at a cricket match, holding up X-rays to the sun to study them. He was a key figure in the development of pediatric radiology in Australia and his clinical skills were highly valued, so X-rays were brought from all over Sydney to him, anywhere, any time. The director of radiology at the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children Camperdown for many years, he also served as president of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists. More

Reginald Bowman 1922 -2007

17 March 2009
Reginald Bowman who died on 13 December 2007, was a gentleman in every aspect of the word.
He was born on 4 October 1922 at 469 Oxford Street, Sydney, into a medical family in which his grandfather, father, and mother were graduates of the University of Sydney. More

William Joseph Quilty 1930 - 2008

6 March 2009
The Bill Quilty Memorial prize was recently instituted by Melbourne University's School of Rural Health in Shepparton to commemorate a man who devoted 32 years of his professional life, and a large part of his private life, to helping others. He helped establish the first coronary care unit at Mooroopna Base Hospital and a diabetes education program at Goulburn Valley Base Hospital. More

Ella Spencer Donovan 1912 - 2008

16 February 2009
With the death of Dr Ella Donovan at 96 the Branch has lost its oldest and longest-serving member. Ella joined the NSW Branch of the AMA in 1936, and had been a member of the AMA and its precursors for more than 72 years. More

Kevin Hume 1918 - 2009

5 February 2009
Kevin Hume's lifetime devoted to medicine included 62 years as a general practitioner and more than half of those years promoting natural family planning. More

Ralph Blacket 1919 - 2008

26 January 2009
Ralph Blacket was one of Australia's leading researchers into heart disease. Convinced of the importance of lipids in the growing epidemic of heart attack and coronary artery disease, Blacket established a lipid chemistry laboratory. In 1966 the group carried out the Diet Heart Study, which demonstrated that substituting polyunsaturated vegetable fats for saturated animal fats would significantly reduce the incidence of heart disease. More

Roger Vanderfield 1928-2008

2 October 2008
Roger Vanderfield was a man for many, if not all, seasons. He was a student of English history, a keen photographer, an avid philatelist, a doctor and hospital administrator, and a rugby referee and official. The last two - hospitals and rugby - were his vocations. More

Ralph Reader 1918 - 2008

18 January 2008
Fifty years ago heart patients in Australia were treated as delicate invalids and prescribed prolonged bed rest. Few people disagreed with the belief that heart trouble went hand in hand with age. Yet heart attacks, heart failure and strokes were killing people in what seemed like epidemic proportions, accounting for two-thirds of all deaths. More

Coll Fisher 1935 - 2008

20 January 2008
Coll Fisher was a popular obstetrician who was at the centre of many of the changes in the care of pregnant women for almost 40 years. More

Denis Halmagyi 1921 - 2008

19 September 2008
Denis Halmagyi survived the Nazis in World War II, fled from postwar communist Hungary and built a prominent career as a medical scientist in Britain, Australia and the US. Before intensive care units existed in hospitals, Halmagyi was creating animal models of the sort of catastrophic illness and injury that are treated in such units today, trying to work out why and how patients die. More

Clair Isbister 1915 - 2008

26 August 2008
Clair Isbister wrote to the then prime minister John Howard two years ago offering 10 reasons why he would lose the next election. More

Mark Shanahan 1932 - 2008

9 August 2008
Mark Shanahan was a young and naive medical student when he first put his finger inside a human heart. More

Dr Frank Mills 1910 - 2008

6 August 2008
On the morning of April 6, 2008, there died a man of modesty and achievement, one who had lived joyfully and generously. His surgical influence, survival skills and pleasure in life are worth remembering. The things he did made many Australians deeply grateful, for he was uncommonly adroit at salvaging people’s lives. More

Thomas Stapleton 1920 - 2007

Tom Stapleton was appointed as Professor of Child Health at the University of Sydney in 1960, a position he occupied until 1983. During that time he was Director of the Institute of Child Health until its closure in 1982 and was an Honorary Physician at the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children. More

Dr Roland A G (Rag) Holmes 1918-2007

3 July 2007
Many people have endured ragging about their name. For Roland Adrian Glennie Holmes, it became more literal than for most of them. "Rag", as his friends knew him, was a country doctor for everyone. He was witty, literary, musical, deeply passionate and caring. More

Babette Stephens 1922-2007

26 May 2007
In her work as a GP in Northbridge, Dr Babette Stephens didn't just treat her patients, she sometimes helped out by putting on a load of washing when she thought it necessary for the patient's wellbeing. More

Gerald Milton 1924-2007

9 May 2007
If any disease could be tagged to Australia as a special medical challenge, it would most likely be melanoma, the scourge of a fair-skinned people populating a land meant for the dark-skinned. More