Robert Tyrie Ritchie, a leading geriatrician, former surgeon and a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, has passed away aged 86.
Robert Ritchie was born on April 2, 1922 in Rothsea Place, Edinburgh, the eldest son of Professor WT and Madeline Ritchie.
He studied at Edinburgh Academy between 1927 and 1939, then went to Edinburgh University, where he studied medicine, graduat
ing in 1944.
He was appointed the resident house surgeon at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and worked under Sir John Fraser between August 1944 and January 1945, when he signed up for military service.
This saw him serve in the Royal Army Medical Corps as a general medical officer and he was stationed around various parts of India, working as an acting staff surgeon.
He returned to Edinburgh in 1947, and went back to work at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, where he met his future wife Dorothy Sandilands, then working as a nurse at the hospital.
Mr Ritchie, now employed as a general physician, moved around Edinburgh's hospitals, working at Chalmers Hospital, the Southfield Sanatorium and the Eastern General Hospital until 1950 when he took a medical registrar appointment at Perth Royal Infirmary.
He married Dorothy on March 10, 1951, and because of hospital rules at the time, which prevented married women working as nurses, she was forced to retire.
Mr Ritchie moved to Dundee Royal Infirmary and Arbroath Infirmary before becoming Assistant Chest Physician in Dundee in 1956.
He had long been interested in chest medicine, particularly the treatment of tuberculosis, but as drugs became more advanced, positions in chest medicine began to dwindle and so in 1960 he moved into the developing field of geriatric medicine, becoming a consultant in the Dundee and Angus Geriatric Service.
He transferred to Maryfield Hospital in Dundee in 1962 until his retirement in 1986, spending the rest of his working life developing geriatric services.
He co-authored a number of papers on tuberculosis, and was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (Edinburgh) in 1966.
He was also a member of the British Geriatric Society, Scottish Thoracic Society and Dundee Old People's Welfare/Age Concern.
He was a member of Barnhill St Margaret's Parish Church, where he served as an elder and as session clerk.
His interests included golf – he was a member of Panmure Golf Club – and curling, which he played with the Dundee Club from 1975 to 2003.
He was also afforded the honour of being admitted as a Bonnetmaker – a famous Dundee traders organisation – in 1961.
He and Dorothy moved back to Edinburgh in 2003, but sadly their health deteriorated and they moved to the care of the Braid Hills Nursing Centre in 2005.
Dorothy passed away in October, 2005.
Mr Ritchie is survived by his three children, Patricia, Joan and Alan, grandson Callum and granddaughter Jaimie, brother David and sisters Jean and Alice.
A thanksgiving service will be held in Greenbank Parish Church on September 24, at 1pm.
The full article contains 503 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
