Victor (Vic) Bennett was born on 3 December 1920, at Milthorpe. He attended Orange High School and entered Sydney University at the age of 16 years, and graduated with honours in 1943. He was a resident medical officer at Sydney Hospital and then served in the Second World War with the 27th Australian Infantry Battalion in the Pacific Islands at Rabaul and Bougainville. After the war he returned to Concord Hospital and obtained his MRACP, and later FRACP. While at Concord Hospital he met his future wife Betty, a theatre sister who was to become such a great helpmate to him all his life.
In 1952, Vic Bennett formed a large group practice in Manly and was appointed to the visiting medical staff of Manly Hospital, where he combined his unique skills to serve as a specialist physician and anaesthetist for the next 36 years. During these years he was very active on the medical staff council of the Hospital and the executive council of the local medical association. Thus in Manly, medicine became his whole life and it was here that his work extended beyond the call of duty and where, with a dry sense of humour and a quite unassuming manner, and meticulous attention to detail, he showed his love for medicine and his true worth.
For not only in his practice but within the whole medical community, Vic Bennett was held in the highest esteem for his integrity, his medical judgement, for the care and devotion with which he looked after his patients and for his advice, so frequently sought by his peers. Throughout his life, Vic Bennett carried out his responsibilities with great expertise, and he left a fine example for his colleagues to follow and has indeed shown that he led a life worthy of his calling. Vic Bennett is survived by his wife Betty and their four children, Mark, Jenny, Geoffrey and Robert, and their grandchildren Phoebe and Georgia.