Professor Dennis Smith was born on 2 January 1930 in Coventry, England. He was the first son of Walter and Doris Smith. His father was from a Christian, socialist, working class background and worked as a medical clerk. My father was a bright child and really enjoyed his school years particularly chemistry experiments! He received his first scholarship to Bablake Grammar School and went on to get another to attend Birmingham University where he studied medicine and chemistry. Whilst still studying medicine, he met his wife Jean who was nursing at Warwickshire Hospital and he was working in the pathology lab when their romance commenced, they were married in 1952.

In 1955 he commenced his National Service in the Royal Army Medical Corp, which he continued until 1965. During this time, he undertook further study in rheumatology and neurology and became a consultant physician in rehabilitation and achieved the rank of Major. In this period, my parents had four children: Carol, Helen (myself), David and Roger. He worked at Great Ormond Street as the first assistant in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and also as Senior Registrar in the Department of Rheumatology and Rehabilitation Medicine at Guys Hospital London.

In 1967 he was appointed Consultant in Rheumatology and Rehabilitation at the Windsor Group Hospitals and in 1970 became the Foundation Consultant in Rehabilitation Medicine and Director of Rehabilitation Services and Research at Northwick Park Hospital, Harrow Middlesex. My father was the Director of Rehabilitation at the Clinical Research Centre of the Medical Research Council in Harrow, England before emigrating to South Australia in 1979. During this time, he was, for a decade, engaged in clinical research and the development of appropriate outcome measures designed to determine the effectiveness of rehabilitation.

Between 1979 and 1992 my father established the Rehabilitation Studies Unit at The Repatriation General Hospital, Daw Park as a centre for rehabilitation research and undergraduate and post graduate teaching and training. This was the first academic full time position in Australia.

He was President of the Australian College of Rehabilitation Medicine from 1989 to 1990. In 1992 he established the Sydney University Motor Accidents Authority Chair of Rehabilitation at Ryde, and Royal North Shore Hospital and was Foundation Professor of Rehabilitation Medicine at Sydney University. He was also appointed Director of Head Injury Services and Director of Rehabilitation Studies Unit NSW. He also established the Research and Teaching unit on the campus of the Royal Rehabilitation Centre at Ryde. In 1994, my father was the President of the Australasian Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine (AFRM) and Chairman of the Scientific Program for the World Conference of the International Federation of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine (IFPM&R) Sydney, Australia 1995. This was the first major international rehabilitation conference in Australia and was a considerable success. It enabled the specialty to establish firm links with many significant overseas centres.

My father’s considerable experience lay in the clinical management and rehabilitation of stroke and head injury. It was on this topic, he had been an invited speaker at the 8th International Conference of the International Rehabilitation Medicine Association (IRMA). He has written extensively on the determinants of disability. He also had a continuing interest in the management of chronic pain syndromes affecting the back and neck, especially for those in which the consequences are inability to return to work.

In 1997, he returned briefly to the UK but a year later returned to Australia and not being ready for retirement yet was appointed Emeritus Consultant, Department of Medicine at The Repatriation General Hospital and Fellow, Flinders University of South Australia Department of Rehabilitation and Aged Care.

My father was always a lover of music particularly jazz and big band music, Stan Kenton being one of his favourites. He also loved Motown especially Diana Ross and the Supremes and the Fifth Dimension. He also enjoyed making homemade wine, blackberry being his specialty and was also a keen photographer setting up his own darkroom. He did more than most people would dream of; travelling, multiple career experiences, meeting extraordinary people and living in some beautiful parts of the world. He leaves behind his wife Jean, his children Helen, David and Roger, his grandchildren Nicki, Daniel, Sophie, Henry, Amy, Charlie, Casey, Corey, Leigh, Rosie and Jack, and seven great grandchildren. Never to be forgotten and always loved.