Former consultant neurosurgeon Liverpool, 1947-79 (b Calgary, Canada, 1915; q Edinburgh 1937; FRCS; MBE), died from pneumonia on 16 June 2000. Dick learnt his craft in the second world war, mainly in India. He ended with the rank of lieutenant colonel. He rejoined the neurosurgical unit in Oxford for head injury training and was appointed to the new unit in Liverpool in 1947. He showed an early interest in the surgical treatment of epilepsy and worked in Montreal for a time. Dick's patience and dogged persistence were ideally suited to the techniques for temporal lobectomy and hemispherectomy, as practised at that time. He seemed unaffected by procedures that commonly took 12 or more hours. He was a founder member of the Mersey Region Epilepsy Association and its chairman or president for 21 years. In addition to his long operations, Dick held long outpatient clinics and wrote very long outpatient letters. It was largely his work that has led to the development of the management of epilepsy in Liverpool. He leaves a wife, Kay; two daughters; two sons; and three grandchildren.

Retired consultant physician Battle and Prospect Park Hospitals, Reading (b Vienna 1909; q Vienna 1935; MD, FRCP), d 15 May 2000. He arrived in England as a refugee in 1938 and was registered as an enemy alien, but was allowed to live uninterned in Rhayader in Wales, where he found the local people kind and hospitable. After junior posts in the north of England he moved to Reading and became a consultant in 1959. He will be remembered for his quiet sense of humour, his intellect, and his skills—some of his patients required artificial ventilation in negative pressure tank ventilators. He published papers on myxoedema crisis hormones and the treatment of thyrotoxic crisis. Predeceased by his wife, Margaret, who was also from Vienna—they remet in 1941—he leaves a daughter.

by David G Price

General practitioner Fawdon, Newcastle upon Tyne, 1979-95 (b Newcastle 1953; q Newcastle 1977), died from metastatic breast cancer on 18 October 1999. During her first and second years at medical school Patrice nursed her own mother, who had terminal breast cancer. After house jobs she did psychiatry for a year and was then approached by her mother's GPs to join them. During her 16 years in the practice she played an active part in its expansion. Outside medicine she loved the arts and literature and particularly classical music and opera. Her enthusiasm for travel, gardening, and house hunting knew no bounds and she was a generous hostess. She leaves a husband, Hamish (also a GP), and two daughters and a son.

by Relton Cummings

Former general practitioner and anaesthetist Yeovil (b Nottingham 1909; q Oxford/The London 1933), died some time after a femoral fracture sustained while doing his own shopping on 30 March 2000. After the death of his partner in 1937 Jack continued as an anaesthetist at Yeovil Hospital and as a singlehanded general practitioner, attending all practice obstetric deliveries and night calls, until he took on a partner in 1953. Later he relinquished his practice work and concentrated on anaesthetics, finally retiring in 1974. He registered as a conscientious objector in the second world war and later joined the Society of Friends. His oft repeated remark when confronted with a self limiting condition, “Leave it to nature,” earned him the nickname “Nature Boy.” Jack always had a cheerful chuckle and never let anything, including prostatic carcinoma, restrict his activity, and he continued with one of his hobbies, bee keeping, until a year before he died. Predeceased by his wife, he leaves a daughter; three sons; 10 grandchildren; and four great grandchildren.

by S Thomas Pickles

Former general practitioner Trinidad, 1936-59 (b Aldershot 1904; q Royal Free Hospital 1929 (gold medal for surgery)), d 12 June 2000. She entered medicine at her mother's insistence, despite wanting to go into nursing. She opted for general practice and worked in Sidcup after doing locums in rural areas and the slums of London's east end. After she married she moved to Trinidad, where her husband worked for British Petroleum. Here her practice embraced company employees and local West Indians. She recalled treating infantile tetanus caused by the practice of putting a spider's web on the umbilical cord stump. Known by her patients as “Doctress,” she was available to them day and night even when pregnant. During the second world war resources were scarce and she often treated the survivors of U-boat attacks. She returned to England in 1959 and after she was widowed indulged a passion for bridge, which took her all over Britain and Europe. She had an ability to laugh at herself and made friends widely. She maintained her interest in medicine, scanning the BMJ avidly at 95. She leaves two daughters; four grandchildren (one a general practitioner); and three great grandchildren.

by Clare Hayward