In memoriam

RACS publishes abridged obituaries in Surgical News. Full versions can be found on the RACS website.

John Kendall Francis FRACSGeneral surgeon15 February 1927–19 November 2020

John Kendall Francis will be remembered for three things: his skill as a surgeon; his enthusiasm as a teacher; and his compassion for those less fortunate than himself.

His initial schooling was at the East Kew State School and then at Ballarat High School. He earned his pocket money doing an early morning paper round. He started medicine at the University of Melbourne in 1944, graduating with honours in all subjects in 1949. He obtained his Master of Surgery degree in 1953, and went to Korea and Japan with the Australian Army Medical Corps.

Following this he sailed to England and obtained his FRCS in 1954. On his return to Melbourne he gained his FRACS and was appointed as a consultant to Footscray Hospital, which had only just opened, and to Prince Henry’s. He continued as a member of the senior medical staff of both Hospitals until 1991.

In 1967, he led a Prince Henry’s Hospital civilian surgical aid team to Vietnam. The team worked at Bien Hoa, a local provincial hospital 20 km out of Saigon. There was no political motive in Kendall’s service in Vietnam. He regarded it as part of his calling as a doctor to serve those less fortunate. In Vietnam, he demonstrated his surgical skill, his organisational skills as a leader and motivator and his compassion for the Vietnamese civilians. He subsequently showed those same skills during a secondment to Timor-Leste.

At Prince Henry’s Hospital, he and his close friend Bob Marshall, with the support of Vernon Marshall set up a surgical unit of the highest standard.

Felix Behan, David Scott, John Royle, Trevor Jones and Graham Thompson

Robert Lyons Pearce AM CStJ RFD OM(Fr.) FRACS

Plastic & reconstructive surgeon20 April 1940–17 November 2020

Robert Pearce died suddenly and unexpectedly, the result of a pulmonary embolus, on 17 November 2020. Always interested in working with his hands, at the time of his death he was working at the local Men’s Shed with his fellow weekend carpenters, making a table for the museum in Mandurah, Western Australia.

Robert Lyons Pearce was born on 20 April 1940, the son of Edward ‘Ted’ Pearce, the Chief Stipendiary Magistrate in Queensland, and his wife Jean, née Lawson Lyons. Robert completed his high school education at Gympie in December 1957 and enrolled with the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Queensland the following year.

He graduated MBBS Qld in 1965 and served as a Resident Medical Officer at the Princess Alexandra Hospital, Brisbane, 1966–1967. Following his desire to pursue a surgical career, he worked as a surgical registrar at the Toowoomba General Hospital in 1968 and then as a research assistant in the Lyons Renal Research Laboratory at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in 1969, subsequently winning the National Heart Foundation Essay Prize for his work on maintenance of normal blood pressure.

In 1970 he was appointed as a teaching registrar/surgical registrar at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Brisbane, ‘backfilling’ the service of physicians and surgeons who had volunteered to serve in the Vietnam war.

Mr Peter F. Burke FRACS

For the full obituaries please visit our website.

Informing RACS

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VIC: college.vic@surgeons.org

WA: college.wa@surgeons.org

NT: college.nt@surgeons.org