Roger Anker Bakewell was born in Khandallah, a suburb of Wellington, as the youngest child of Helen and Frederick Haslam Bakewell, whose family roots were deep in Derbyshire. His secondary education was at Otago Boys' High School and Nelson College, where he was dux. Roger's father, a doctor's son, was a senior school inspector, but it was his mother's ambition to see her three children graduate in medicine and this they all achieved, Robert and Helen both preceding Roger to the Otago Medical School.

On graduation in 1926, he joined the house staff at Christchurch Hospital, and after working as Resident Medical Officer in Invercargill, began general practice in the Hutt Valley in 1928. He continued to serve in this district for the rest of his life, from his home base in Petone. In 1940, he decided to train as a medical consultant and was soon appointed as assistant physician to Dr W Gordon C Paterson, the senior visiting physician at Wellington Hospital; both worked closely with Dr Charles Burns, who fostered a particular interest in clinical cardiology.

When the district's second general hospital opened in the Hutt Valley in 1944, Roger was ready to assume a post as general physician, in charge of beds and an outpatient clinic; his opposite number was Francis E Bolt and together they carried a daunting workload, each assisted by one house physician, and sharing the services of a medical registrar. The hospital superintendent, William S Fogg, recalled their management of the medical section of the hospital as so efficient that he received no complaints during Roger's period of service, which continued until his retirement in 1963. Episodes of coronary disease which had interrupted his career before this and obliged him to reduce his workload, precluded any medical publishing, and restricted his former community service to the Ambulance Association and other bodies. He continued seeing patients at his rooms until the year of his death. He acknowledged that his devoted wife Constance, and son Robert were his main support.

A close contemporary, John Mercer, considered that his great ability to understand others stood him in good stead with patients and with his house physicians who appreciated his sense of proportion, and sound knowledge of the fundamentals of patient care. By nature transparently honest and dependable, his approach was direct and forthright and his views expressed without fear or favour, and sometimes with embarrassing directness. No one could deflate a brash young registrar as effectively as Roger, but it is as a diligent, safe and sound clinician that he is best remembered.