Julia Mary Beale
Recently retired general practitioner Salisbury (b Newport, Gwent, 1935; q Westminster 1958; DCH, DRCOG), died from cancer on 4 April 2000. Married to the former surgeon general, Sir Peter Beale, she worked almost continuously as a civilian general practitioner to the British armed forces in numerous postings, taking the briefest of breaks to have six children. From 1991 she was a part time clinical assistant in Salisbury, where she was able to practise her ability to care holistically for her patients with the luxury of 15 minute appointments. She was also interested in family planning and coping with psychiatric disorders. The greatest tragedy was the death of her daughter, Lucy, when she was 3 from congenital heart disease, and this influenced the way she practised. She leaves a husband, Peter; four sons (two of whom are consultant radiologists); and a daughter (a general practitioner).
Christopher Gordon Bird
Former consultant anaesthetist Stoke Mandeville Hospital (b London 1937; q Guy's 1961; FFARCS), died from complications of a stroke during surgery on 8 April 2000. He set out to be an orthopaedic surgeon but soon realised that a serious back injury sustained in school rugby precluded this. After early retirement due to ill health he turned his familiarity with computers to helping Stoke Mandeville NHS Trust in the early days of contracting and information systems. He was an avid rugby and cricket fan. He leaves a wife, Liz, and a son, who has followed him into medicine.
by Gordon Bird
John Stewart Waring Brierley
Former district medical officer Southport (b Huddersfield 1932; q Leeds 1956; MFCM), died after several years of ill health on 4 December 1999. After national service as a medical officer in the Royal Air Force, he began his career in public health as deputy medical officer of health in Rotherham. After further deputy posts in Dewsbury and Stoke-on-Trent in 1966 he became the youngest medical officer of health in Britain in Huddersfield, where he spent almost 20 years. He was district medical officer in South Tees and Southport until ill health forced his retirement. He was a direct, straight talking Yorkshireman, who always spoke his mind. Outside medicine he ran a 96 acre hill farm, where he took a keen interest in breeding and rearing sheep. He also bred national championship winning lop eared rabbits and was interested in naval history and ceramics. Predeceased by his wife, Betty, he leaves six children (one a specialist registrar in public health medicine and one a consultant physician in elderly medicine) and nine grandchildren.
by Ian Holtby
John Gray Craig
General practitioner Shipley, West Yorkshire, 1934-85 (b County Antrim 1907; q Queen's University, Belfast, 1928; MD), d 17 August 1999. He settled in practice at the age of 27, although it was well beyond his means at the time. He was building up a successful practice when he was called up and served in the army in west Africa during the second world war. Once he had recovered from a serious bout of amoebiasis he re-established himself as a singlehanded doctor. In 1948 he brought in an assistant and by the time he retired the practice had four partners. He was an avid reader and scholar and this was recognised by the emerging College of General Practitioners, which installed him as its provost in Yorkshire in the 1960s. He devoted time to the BMA, the Irish Medical Association, the Bradford Medico-Chirurgical Society, and the local medical committee. Outside medicine he was a member of the Rotary Club. Predeceased by his wife, Kay, he leaves two sons (one followed him into the practice); a daughter; and numerous grandchildren and great grandchildren.
by Gavin Craig
Peter Noel Magee
Philip Hill professor of experimental biochemistry Middlesex Hospital Medical School, 1967-75; director, Fels Institute, Temple University, Philadelphia, 1975-88 (b Sheffield 1921; q Cambridge/University College Hospital 1945; FRCP, FRCPath), d 11 February 2000. Peter Magee laid the foundation for the view that all types of cancer are the result of damage to DNA leading to mutation. When he discovered, in 1954, that dimethylnitrosamine was hepatotoxic he noticed that the poisoned livers contained enlarged cells similar to those seen in veno-occlusive disease. Because it had been suggested that these were premalignant cells Magee tested the chemical and found that it was carcinogenic—even when given as a single dose. The simplicity of this carcinogen allowed experiments that had not been possible before and Peter soon found that one of its metabolites reacted with DNA. This was the first demonstration that carcinogens reacted with DNA. With a simple investigation he found that the major product of the reaction between dimethylnitrosamine and DNA was not responsible for the cancer. But the disappointment was short lived because the realisation that the carcinogenicity of these chemicals paralleled their mutagenicity in bacteriophage led to the discovery (by A Loveless) that there was a minor reaction product with DNA which was responsible for both mutation and cancer. Magee edited Cancer Research for nine years, received many honours, and gave many prestigious lectures. He will be remembered as a quiet, modest man of great culture and charm.
by Peter Swann
Robert Cox
A memorial service for Robert Cox (obituary, 22 April, p 1149) will be held on Tuesday 20 June at 12 30 pm in the chapel, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, Fulham Road, London SW10 9NH.