Alumni Obituaries

Dr. A. Brian Little ’39, a former chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of McGill University Medical School, died April 14 in Skillman, N.J. where in post retirement he taught and mentored at the New Jersey University of Medicine and Dentistry until he became ill more than a year ago. He was 87.

Born in Montreal, March 11, 1925, he attended Selwyn House, where he won the Jeffrey Russel prize upon graduation. He became an internationally recognized investigator in reproductive endocrinology, studying the metabolism of steroid hormones and the neuroendocrinology of reproduction.

He was a navigator in the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II. Both his brothers in the Royal Canadian Navy were killed in action. After the war he graduated from McGill Medical School, followed by a residency at Harvard Medical School in obstetrics and gynecology. In this choice he emulated his father, a distinguished obstetrician-gynecologist who had been instrumental in founding the Women’s Pavillion of the Royal Victoria Hospital. His father died at 57, leaving his mother to raise three young sons. From 1947 to 1970 she wrote a widely read food column, “Let’s Dine at Home,” in The Gazette. Stephen Leacock was a friend and Dr. Little’s bookshelves were filled with the autographed volumes by Canada’s renowned humorist, inherited from his mother.

Early in his career Dr. Little headed obstetrics and gynecology at the Boston City Hospital on the Harvard service, where he did the first intrauterine transfusion for RH sensitive fetuses. Later he moved to Cleveland, becoming chairman at the Cleveland Metropolitan General Hospital and then professor and chair at Case Western Reserve Medical School. He returned to McGill in 1984, retiring to New Jersey in 1993.

For 28 years, he was a funded investigator of the U.S. National Institutes of Health. He oversaw one of the most important perinatal clinical trials in NIH history, on antenatal steroid therapy to improve the outcome of premature babies. He was a council member and leader in directing the research efforts of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and chair of the steering committee of Reproductive Medical Centres. He served as a director of the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology and was president of the Perinatal Research Society and the Society of Gynecologic Investigation. He also became president of the American Gynecological Society, of which his father had been a founding member.

He is survived by his wife of 28 years, Dr. Bitten Stripp, and by his first wife, Nancy Campbell, and five of their six children. Their only son, Michael, died in a mountain accident in Austria, aged 19. His daughters are Deborah Little (Tyler Miller, M.D.), Susan (Peter Hoagland), Catherine (Dr. Dan Reagan), Jane Little M.D. (Tom Hostetter, M.D.) and Lucinda Little (David Wells). There are eight grandchildren, Catherine, Sam and William Miller-Little, Alexandra, Leah and Ian Hoagland and Andrew and Jane Reagan.

Obituary published in The Gazette on April 25, 2012.

Roy William Bond ’47 passed away peacefully in Cowichan, British Columbia District Hospital on June 8, 2012. Roy was born in Italy of British parents and came to Montreal with his family in 1934. Roy and his wife Joanne (Allison) moved to Winnipeg, London, Ont., Markham Ont. and Ottawa before retiring to Arbutus Ridge on Vancouver Island in 1997. Although Roy was challenged with rheumatoid arthritis in his early 50s, he managed to stare down the disease, laugh at himself and take joy in whatever he was able to do. He knew that everyone with whom he came in contact had something to offer, regardless of who they were and where they came from. As a young man he was an active sportsman, playing squash, skiing, and sailing. He was known to many as a mentor and friend and was a wonderful listener. Roy’s curiosity and passion for learning never left him. Roy is survived by his wife Joanne, his sister Pam Watkins and her family, his three children Gregory, Allison and Trevor, their partners Deirdre, Marianne and Amy and grandchildren Pasha, Ben, Pierce and Baxter. A celebration of life was held at First Memorial in Duncan on Wednesday, June 13. Condolences may be shared at www.dignitymemorial.com

John R.W. Fieldhouse ’58 died suddenly in Montreal on November 1, 2011, aged 68. He was predeceased by his parents, Grace Tinning Fieldhouse and H. Noel Fieldhouse. He is survived by his sister Elizabeth (Dibby) Bowes and her husband Robert Bowes (Burnaby), their children Katherine Pieters (Burnaby) and Stephen Bowes (Toronto) and by his grandniece Grace Pieters. Burial was private. Memorial donations may be made to Selwyn House School Annual Fund (www.selwyn.ca) or to Lower Canada College Tribute Giving (www.lcc.ca), both in Montreal. ■