Robert Finlay

Former general practitioner Sunderland, Tyne and Wear (b Glasgow 12 October 1917; q Glasgow 1939), died following a stroke on 9 September 2003.

After qualification, which was achieved with the help of a Carnegie scholarship, he did a surgical residency at Doncaster Royal Infirmary and then joined the Royal Army Medical Corps in 1940 and served in west Africa, India, and Burma. After the war he did further hospital appointments in Manchester and Shotley Bridge, County Durham, before starting in general practice in Wallsend-on-Tyne in 1949, and then Sunderland in 1951 till he retired in 1979. He was also local factory doctor for 15 years and continued as a DHSS medical officer till 1987. He was a keen golfer well into his retirement and had a passionate interest in astronomy, science, and the classics. He leaves a wife, Eithne; four children; and eight grandchildren. [Stuart Finlay]