Donald MacVicar

Donald MacVicar was born on 2 September 1916 in Enpalme, Mexico, the son of a Scottish railway engineer. He was educated at Dalziel High School, Wishaw and subsequently studied at Edinburgh University Medical School. On qualification he joined the Royal Army Medical Corps, serving in India until 1946, when he returned to Scotland to marry Christine Anderson, who he had met when she was district midwife in Edinburgh. He moved to London to train in Obstetrics and Gynaecology at hospitals including Chase Farm and West Middlesex and completed senior registrar jobs at Leicester Royal Infirmary and the Jessop Hospital, Sheffield, returning to Leicester as consultant, a post he held until retirement in 1982. He gained MRCOG in 1951 and was elected a fellow in 1968. His MD thesis on the effects of congenital syphilis was accepted by the University of Edinburgh in 1953. Throughout his career a strong interest in gynaecological oncology was maintained, and he was a keen follower of sport, especially cricket, and ballet. Predeceased in 1999 by Christine, he remained fit and independent until his final illness, a bronchopneumonia that followed a femoral neck fracture. He died on 24 June 2006 leaving two sons and five grandchildren.