Retired consultant surgeon Bermuda (b London 1917; q Guy's 1942; ChM, FRCS), d 20 July 2001. He moved to Bermuda as consultant surgeon in 1958 and for several years he was the only general surgeon there. Being isolated in Bermuda meant general surgery in the widest sense—abdominal surgery, orthopaedics, genitourinary surgery, and an occasional Caesarean section or hysterectomy when requested by a GP obstetrician, or a craniotomy for a head injury arising from a traffic collision. Brian was a meticulous surgeon with beautiful surgical technique, unhurried and unflappable, but with no wasted time or effort. He had good communication skills, would always send a note (however brief) to the referring GP, and would phone the GP and the patient's relative when he left the theatre. He enjoyed teaching and kept his assistants on their toes by asking them questions while he demonstrated the anatomy. He had a keen sense of humour and made a wonderful companion at dinner. He enjoyed tennis and had the privilege of playing on court number one at Wimbledon with some members of the All England Tennis Club. He retired 10 years ago. A tall spare man, Brian had orthostatic hypotension (Shy-Drager syndrome) and had many syncopal episodes in his final few years. On 20 July, feeling a syncopal episode coming on, he had knelt by the side of his bed, and fell forward face down and asphyxiated in the bedclothes. He leaves a wife, Jess; five children; and six grandchildren.

Former general practitioner London (b Potchefstroom, South Africa, 1907; q Edinburgh 1932), d 30 June 2001. He trained at Edinburgh because Guy's would not recognise his preclinical year at Witswattersrand University. He set up as a general practitioner in Orpington until the second world war, when he served in East Africa, Ceylon, India, and Burma, ending as a medical specialist. After the war he returned to Orpington, but moved to Hampstead Garden Suburb in 1947. He continued in a singlehanded practice until the mid-1960s and retired at the age of 75 when he decided that pharmacotherapy was too dangerous. He believed that a Latin diagnosis reassured his patients, who required educating. Those who resented this went elsewhere, but many more stayed with him, often for four generations. Predeceased by his wife and one son, he leaves a son.

Preregistration house officer (b 1977; q Leicester 2000), died in a car crash on 9 July 2001 as he drove home to Leicester from work in Nuneaton. His passions were cricket, snooker, films that didn't make him think, and his mother's food. He was always smartly presented and meticulously well organised. Shahbaaz enjoyed being a doctor and was looking forward to becoming a senior house officer in emergency medicine at Leicester. He liked patient contact, and was keen and quick to learn new skills. He was content and dedicated to his job, and was never angry at the long hours he worked. He leaves a mother, father, sister, and two brothers.

Former psychiatrist (b Hankow, China, 1910; q Edinburgh 1935), d 2 June 2001. After qualifying, he returned to what was by then Japanese-occupied China as superintendent of a mission hospital, to be joined a year later by his wife. Eric Liddell of Chariots of Fire Olympic running fame acted for a time as the hospital's business manager. Following the bombing of Pearl Harbour in 1941, Kenneth and his wife were interned by the Japanese, along with their four month old daughter. In the camp, where conditions were primitive and drugs in short supply, Kenneth witnessed several cases of healing through prayer and, after returning to Britain and working for some years in general practice, he decided to study psychiatry. Finding hospital practice too restricting, he began to practise privately. He became increasingly convinced that spiritual factors underlay much mental illness, and experience led him to identify much of this as absence of adequate mourning for members of the family who had died violently—for example, through war or suicide. In 1984, he produced his first book, Healing the Family Tree, and, in 1994, the Family Tree Ministry was founded. He lectured widely in the United Kingdom and abroad. At the age of 88 he was invited to Trinidad and the following year to Romania. Here he was the first foreigner to speak publicly in a cathedral recently handed back to the church by the state. His other two books are Healing the Haunted and Guide to Healing the Family Tree. He leaves a wife, Frances; five children; and 11 grandchildren.

Former medical adviser in mass radiography Birmingham Regional Health Authority and director Birmingham Mass Radiography Centre (b Lurgan, Northern Ireland, 1913; q Queen's University, Belfast, 1936; MD, DPH), d 18 May 2001. After serving in the Royal Army Medical Corps—mostly overseas, in Kenya and India—his postwar career was initially in public health (Burton on Trent 1947-49). He was then appointed director of mass radiography at St James's Hospital, Leeds, before transferring to Birmingham, where he remained until retirement. His masters' thesis, submitted in 1951, dealt with detection, treatment, and five year clinical progress of tuberculosis. He also published papers at around this time—on the results emerging from mass radiography and the part it played in early detection and treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis—pointing out that mass radiography was planned as part of a campaign against TB, then threatening—as now—to become epidemic. It was also hoped that mass radiography would be similarly valuable in other fields. Leslie was a private individual, with no hobbies but capable of deriving enjoyment and satisfaction from whatever circumstances appealed to him. He was mainly interested in and concerned with his work, his family, and his church. Predeceased by his wife, Winifred, to whom he had been married for almost 60 years, he leaves two children and three granddaughters.

Former consultant surgeon Worcester Royal Infirmary (b 1906; q Edinburgh 1928; FRCS Ed), d 14 March 2001. George came to Worcester in 1931 as a general practitioner. With the coming of the NHS in 1948, he became a consultant surgeon and continued in general practice until 1950. At the end of his long career he enjoyed operating on patients whom he had delivered at its beginning. His notekeeping was meticulous, but he ran an open access clinic of legendary disorder. Before the second world war he was Worcestershire county golf champion and collected brass warming pans. On his retirement in 1971, he was a cofounder of the Charles Hastings Postgraduate Medical Centre, Worcester, and continued this interest until his death. His personal collection of medical and surgical equipment and artefacts had developed into one of the finest medical museums in the country. He was recognised nationally as an expert in this field and lectured widely. He did not avoid the attentions of his surgical colleagues, and at the age of 90 he survived a ruptured aneurysm diagnosed by himself. Predeceased by his wife in 1966, he leaves two children and a grandchild.

Former general practitioner Tywyn, Gwynedd (b 1941; q Cardiff 1965), d 4 June 2001. After considering a career in anaesthetics, he joined a partnership that would allow him to continue with his anaesthetic skills alongside general practice. He was medical adviser to North Wales Health Authority, deputy chairman of North Wales local medical committee, and chairman of the district medical committee. He was a talented musician from childhood. He was an enthusiastic fisherman and loved the outdoor life. His final illness offered no chance of cure at its presentation, but his courage was immense to the end. He leaves his second wife, Janet; and two children from his first marriage.

Former general practitioner Wembley (b Aberdeen 1912; q Aberdeen 1936), died from a chest infection on 5 April 2001. He was house surgeon at East Surrey Hospital, Redhill, then house officer at Stracathro Emergency Medical Service Hospital near Brechin. Various locums and assistantships followed, until he joined a general practice in Wembley in 1953. He remained with this practice until his retirement in the early 1970s, during which time he saw Wembley change hugely. He returned to the family home in Aberdeen, where he looked after his beloved sister Roma until her death in 1978. Between 1978 and 1999, he lived alone in the house, where his generous nature was shamelessly exploited by the local bird and cat populations, and where visitors could be sure of a warm welcome, if not always a seat because of his extensive collection of dismantled mechanisms. He was in the habit of using his microscope iris to adjust the valve settings on the engine of his lovingly maintained Triumph Dolomite Sprint. Bruce was a lively and fascinating speaker, with a huge fund of anecdotes and recondite facts. He never married.

Senior house officer in emergency medicine (b Barnstaple 1972; q Birmingham 1996), died in a road traffic incident in Queensland, Australia, on 7 December 2000 with his fiancée, Kate, a radiographer. Scott was brought up in north Devon, and always intended to return to the south west. On arrival at Birmingham, he quickly established himself as a popular member of the medical school's social life, helped run the “Med Bar,” and was vice president of MedSoc. He became involved in the West Midlands CARE (central accident resuscitation emergency) team as a student, and was developing a career in emergency medicine, with trauma his main interest. Meeting Kate gave Scott a new take on life, and took them to the other side of the world. In Australia, they had worked in Sydney and—judging by their growing email address book—were continuing to make friends to the end.