Dr Douglas Cameron, one of Canada's leading physicians, died 15 September 1989, in Montreal. He graduated from McGill University in medicine in 1940, winning the Wood Gold Medal. Later he was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship. He joined the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps in 1941, and served in Africa and Europe achieving the rank of lieutenant-colonel. He was awarded a Military Cross for his activities during the Italian campaign.

During the tenure of his Rhodes Scholarship at Oxford University from 1946 to 1948, he completed original studies on the relationship of macrocytic anemia to steatorhea. This research resulted in his election to the American Society for Clinical Investigation at an early stage of his career. In 1949, Dr Cameron returned to the Montreal General Hospital and McGill University as a senior research fellow of the National Research Council. He became a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada in 1952. In 1957, he was appointed physician-in-chief at the Montreal General Hospital and Professor of Medicine at McGill University, which posts he held for the next 23 years. He was Chairman of the Department of Medicine at McGill University from 1964 to 1969, and again from 1974 to 1979.

In 1957, there were no divisions in the department of medicine at the Montreal General Hospital and few full-time physicians. Douglas trained a young group of basic and clinical investigators as well as recruiting several renowned scientists such as Arnold Burgen and Francis Chinard. In the ensuing years the Montreal General changed from a teaching hospital to an outstanding academic institution. Later Dr Cameron played a major role in the McGill – Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) – Kenya Medical Development Project which led to the establishment of a medical school in Nairobi, and the McGill Baffin Project which provided health care services in the Canadian eastern arctic.

Douglas Cameron expected the best from his students and colleagues. He frightened us as students, we felt intimidated by him as residents, but when we became faculty members we recognised the values he had taught us. At the senior level he left his colleagues to carry out their assigned responsibilities but always provided support when needed. The latter trait was Doug Cameron's greatest gift to those who trained under him, even if it was rarely given with brevity. Many division directors, chairmen of medicine and deans were trained in his department of medicine.

Douglas Cameron made major contributions to the Canadian Royal College. He was a member of Council from 1957 to 1964, 1968 to 1972, and 1978 to 1981, Vice-President (Medicine) from 1970 to 1972, and President from 1978 to 1980. During his presidency the report of the Committee on Horizons was received as well as the Survey of the McLaughlin Centre. He recognised the need for a strong united College serving all specialties in Canada and was instrumental in maintaining this aim. While carrying a heavy load of scholarly and administrative duties he conducted a large clinical practice, believing this to be an integral part of the role of an academic physician. Douglas Cameron received many national and international awards, including the Orders of Canada. He leaves a legacy unlikely to be surpassed. All of us in the Royal College express our sympathy to his wife Jeanne and their family.