In Memoriam

Sudbury, Ont.; University of Western Ontario, 1960; anesthesiology. Died Feb. 8, 2022, aged 87. Survived by his wife, Norma Dale Dunn, 1 child and 2 grandchildren. Read Dr. Dunn’s obituary.

Vernon, BC; University of Western Ontario, 1956; general surgery. Died Feb. 6, 2022, aged 91. Survived by his wife Barbara, 2 children and 2 grandchildren. Read Dr. Hartley’s obituary.

Oshawa, Ont.; Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1965; medical oncology. Died Feb. 5, 2022, aged 83. Survived by his wife Debbie and a stepchild. Read Dr. Chiu’s obituary.

Chicoutimi, PQ; Université Laval, 1963; otolaryngology. Died Feb. 4, 2022, aged 86. Survived by his wife, Denyse Gauthier, and his children and grandchildren. Read Dr. Carré’s obituary.

Toronto; Semmelweis University (Hungary), 1954; psychiatry; former associate professor, McGill University; professor emeritus, Vanderbilt University. Died Feb. 4, 2022, aged 92. Survived by his wife Joan and a son. Read Dr. Ban’s obituary.

Dieppe, NB; Laval University, 1953; anesthesia; life member, New Brunswick Medical Society. Died Feb. 4, 2022, aged 97. Survived by his wife, Thérèse Loiseau Daigle, 6 children and 6 grandchildren. Read Dr. Daigle’s obituary.

Verdun, PQ; University of Coimbra (Portugal), 1959; pediatrics. Died Feb. 1, 2022, aged 89. Survived by 1 child and 2 grandchildren. Read Dr. Pereira’s obituary.

Vancouver; University of Alberta, 1975; internal medicine; past president, Canadian Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology; past chair, Royal College Clinical Immunology and Allergy Specialty Committee; founder, adult training program in clinical immunology and allergy, University of British Columbia (UBC), and first program director; past president, BC Society of Allergy and Immunology. Died Jan. 31, 2022, aged 71. Survived by his wife Pat and 3 children. Read Dr. Stark’s obituary.

Winnipeg; University of Manitoba, 1958; internal medicine. Died Jan. 30, 2022, aged 87. Survived by his wife, Betty Anne, 1 child and 2 grandchildren. Read Dr. Hershfield’s obituary.

Calgary; University of Calgary, 1975; family medicine; past president, Alberta Medical Association. Died Jan. 29, 2022, aged 80. Survived by a daughter and his grandchildren. Read Dr. Gosbee’s obituary.

Edmonton; University College Cork (Ireland), 1951; otolaryngology. Died Jan. 29, 2022, aged 94. Survived by his wife Kathleen, 6 children and 9 grandchildren. Read Dr. Keohane’s obituary.

Moncton, NB; Royal Navy, WW II; University of Edinburgh (Scotland), 1953; general practice. Died Jan. 29, 2022, aged 97. Survived by 2 children and 1 grandchild. Read Dr. Macpherson’s obituary. 

Ottawa; University of Ottawa, 1953; general surgery. Died Jan. 24, 2022, aged 95. Read Dr. Levesque’s obituary.

Sudbury, Ont.; University of Ottawa, 1955; pediatrics. Died Jan. 23, 2022, aged 94. Survived by his wife Lena, 7 children and 9 grandchildren. Read Dr. Hennessy’s obituary.

Surrey, BC; Westminster Medical School (England), 1956; family medicine; past president, Canadian Medical Association (CMA), 1988-89, and British Columbia Medical Association (BCMA), 1986-87. Died Jan. 23, 2022, aged 92. Survived by a daughter and 5 grandchildren. His daughter Catharine commented: “Dad practised at Sandell Medical in Surrey for 37 years. He retired in 2004, but continued to do locums until he was 88.” Although COVID-19 didn’t cause her father’s death, she said it was a contributing factor. “COVID was really hard on people like my Dad. He was a very sociable fellow, and the virus meant that visits from his friends were no longer possible. It was very hard on him.” Dr. Brian Day, a Vancouver orthopedic surgeon who served as president of the CMA in 2007-08, recalled: “John’s first exposure to medicine was as a young child making house calls with his GP father, whose practice was based in a working-class area of Birmingham, England. John had grown up during the turmoil of the Great Depression, and at a young age he had observed patients suffering from illnesses such as polio and tuberculosis and seen the serious impact of poverty on patients in need of care. His father died prematurely of tuberculosis, leaving his mother a young widow. A positive result of such difficult childhood experiences was his expanding interest in medicine, which he chose as a career. After 10 years working under the British National Health Service, John immigrated to Canada in 1966, and grew to love his adopted province and country.” Dr. Day added that even while serving as CMA president, “John continued to serve his own patients at every opportunity and continued to do an 8-hour emergency shift in the Surrey Memorial every week.” When Dr. O’Brien-Bell was asked about his availability for interviews while serving as CMA president, recalled Dr. Day, he told reporters that he was busy with his patients once he left home. “He gave out his home telephone number, telling them, ‘The best time to call is around 7 a.m., before I've left the house.’ ” Dr. Day concluded: “Like many others, I am a better person for having known and learned from John. Leaders like him are a rarity in this modern era.” Dr. Derryck Smith, a past president of the BCMA and former member of the CMA Board of Directors, added: “John died after a full and satisfying life of service to the profession.” Matt Borsellino, former national editor at the Medical Post, wrote: “In my 20 or so years of communicating with Dr. O’Brien-Bell, I found him to be straightforward and generous. That’s a particularly effective combination for anyone trying to get his message across to the media. To my mind, there was never anybody like that before he came along, and there’s certainly been nobody since.” Lucian Blair, a former director of communications and government relations at the CMA, added: “Throughout his long and distinguished career, Dr. John O’Brien-Bell was always guided by his personal holy trinity: medicine, medical politics, and media relations. And it was the last of these that he passionately pursued. He never saw a camera he wouldn’t pose for, a mic he wouldn’t speak into or a reporter he wouldn’t try to charm.” His CMA biography stated: “Dr. O’Brien-Bell was a media-savvy physician who didn’t always wait for reporters to call him. He told CMAJ that raising the CMA’s profile was one of his major goals as association president. ‘We have to be seen addressing health care issues in a high-profile way. I hope to have met with all of the major papers by the end of November [1988] because I think it is important to let the media know you're there. I am there, and they can call me any time they want.’ ”

West Vancouver; Cairo University (Egypt), 1955; psychiatry. Died Jan. 22, 2022, aged 89.

Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures, PQ; Université Laval, 1972; general practice, sports medicine. Died Jan. 22, 2022, aged 74. Survived by his wife, Marie-Josée Audette, 4 children and 6 grandchildren. Read Dr. Beauchemin’s obituary.

Hamilton; Vrije University (The Netherlands), 1955; general practice. Died Jan. 22, 2022, aged 93. Survived by 4 children, 17 grandchildren and 8 great-grandchildren. Read Dr. Helt’s obituary.

Fredericton; McGill University, 1957; internal medicine, cardiology; life member, New Brunswick Medical Society. Died Jan. 22, 2022, aged 90. Read Dr. Macaulay’s obituary.

Montréal; University of Ottawa, 1966; plastic surgery. Died Jan. 20, 2022, aged 83. Survived by his wife, Mati Bergna, 4 children and 13 grandchildren. Read Dr. Schwarz’s obituary.

Bracebridge, Ont.; University of Toronto, 1945; general practice. Died Jan. 20, 2022, aged 100. Survived by 3 children, 5 grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren. Read Dr. Lobley’s obituary. 

La Baie, PQ; Université Laval, 1971; general practice. Died Jan. 20, 2022, aged 77. Survived by his wife, Claude Boivin, 2 children and 4 grandchildren. Read Dr. Larouche’s obituary.

Langley, BC; University of Toronto, 1947; general surgery. Died Jan. 19, 2022, aged 97.

North York, Ont.; University of Toronto, 1972; cardiology. Died Jan. 19, 2022, aged 77. Read Dr. Strauss’ obituary.

Regina; University of Santo Tomas (Philippines), 1957; anesthesia. Died Jan. 18, 2022, aged 91. Survived by his wife, Marilyn Villanueva Valente, 3 children and 1 grandchild. Read Dr. Valente’s obituary.

Knowlton, PQ; University of Ottawa, 1969; obstetrics and gynecology. Died Jan. 18, 2022, aged 79. Survived by his wife, Alison Milligan. Read Dr. De Saint Victor’s obituary.

Vancouver; National University of Ireland, 1978; internal medicine, respirology. Died Jan. 18, 2022, aged 66. Survived by his wife Céline, 4 children, 2 stepchildren, 1 grandchild, and his ex-wife, Trish. Read Dr. FitzGerald’s obituary.

Toronto; University of Toronto, 1960; anesthesiology. Died Jan. 18, 2022, aged 86. Survived by his wife Estelle, 2 children and 4 grandchildren. Read Dr. Fox’s obituary.

Saint John, NB; Dalhousie University, 1975; ophthalmology; life member, New Brunswick Medical Society. Died Jan. 17, 2022, aged 73. Survived by his life partner, Donna Black, 4 children, the children’s mother, Catherine, 2 stepchildren and 10 grandchildren. Read Dr. Farrell’s obituary. 

Calgary; Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, 1966; family medicine. Died Jan. 16, 2022, aged 89. Survived by his wife Kitty, 4 children and 9 grandchildren. Read Dr. Beeharry’s obituary.

Toronto; University of Toronto (U of T), 1972; neurosurgery. Died Jan. 15, 2022, aged 74. Survived by his wife Gina, 2 children and 4 grandchildren. Read Dr. Gentili’s obituary.

Comox, BC; University of Alberta, 1968; urology. Died Jan. 15, 2022, aged 78. Survived by his wife Mavis and his family. Read Dr. Allard’s obituary.

Guelph, Ont.; Queen’s University, 1957; urology. Died Jan. 15, 2022, aged 91. Survived by his wife Gwendolyn, 4 children, 9 grandchildren and 1 great-grandchild. Read Dr. Phillips’ obituary.

Winnipeg; University of Manitoba, 1967; diagnostic radiology. Died Jan. 15, 2022, aged 81. Survived by his wife Janet, 4 children and 3 grandchildren. Read Dr. Saunders’ obituary.

Edmonton; University of Alberta, 1973; psychiatry. Died Jan. 12, 2022, aged 73. Survived by his wife Jeanne, 5 children and 6 grandchildren. Read Dr. Lundeen’s obituary.

Rothesay, NB; Dalhousie University, 1968; physical medicine and rehabilitation; lieutenant-colonel (retired), Canadian Forces Medical Service; assistant professor, Dalhousie University and Memorial University of Newfoundland. Died Jan. 11, 2022, aged 81. Survived by a son. Read Dr. Reid’s obituary.

Winnipeg; University of Manitoba, 1969; internal medicine. Died Jan. 7, 2022, aged 79. Survived by his wife Patricia, 2 children and 3 grandchildren. Read Dr. Harding’s obituary.

North York, Ont.; University of Toronto, 1960; pediatrics. Died Jan. 7, 2022, aged 86. Read Dr. Gruber’s obituary.

Ottawa; University of Aberdeen (Scotland), 1953; family medicine. Died Jan. 7, 2022, aged 91. Survived by his wife May, 3 children, 7 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren. Read Dr. Garson’s obituary.

Windsor, Ont.; University of Toronto, 1963; family medicine; life member, Essex County Medical Society. Died Jan. 6, 2022, aged 84. Survived by his wife Laure, 2 children and 2 grandchildren. Read Dr. Carom’s obituary.

Chilliwack, BC; University of British Columbia, 1991; family medicine. Died Jan. 6, 2022, aged 56. Survived by his wife Jodie and 3 children. Read Dr. Burns' obituary.

Vancouver; Istanbul University (Turkey), 1953; psychiatry. Died Jan. 6, 2022, aged 94. Survived by his wife Wynn, 2 children and 4 grandchildren. Read Dr. Bayrakal’s obituary.

Winnipeg; University of Glasgow, 1957; general pathology. Died Jan. 6, 2022, aged 88. Survived by his wife Joyce, 2 children and 3 grandchildren. Read Dr. Stark’s obituary.

Montréal; Université de Paris (France), 1964; obstetrics and gynecology. Died Jan. 5, 2022, aged 83. Survived by his wife Yvette and 2 children. Read Dr. Jeanbart’s obituary.

Westmount, PQ; McGill University, 1950; general practice. Died Jan. 5, 2022, aged 95.

Delta, BC; University of Zurich (Switzerland), 1958; psychiatry. Died Jan. 4, 2022, aged 90. Survived by 1 child. Read Dr. Jilek-Aall’s obituary.

Kingston, Ont.; Masaryk University (Czechoslovakia), 1949; general practice, pediatrics, public health. Died Jan. 4, 2022, aged 97. Survived by 2 children, 2 grandchildren and a great-grandson. Read Dr. Soudek’s obituary.

Vancouver; University of Alberta, 1975; hematopathology. Died Jan. 3, 2022, aged 70. Survived by his wife Gwen, 2 children and 2 granddaughters. Read Dr. Ferguson’s obituary.

Victoria; University of British Columbia, 1982; emergency medicine, family medicine. Died Jan. 2, 2022, aged 65. Read Dr. Caira’s obituary.