Eric Frecker was born in Sydney before Konrad Roentgen discovered x-ray emission from a Crookes' tube in 1895. By the time of his death he had become recognised as an outstanding physician in the use of x-rays in both diagnosis and therapy. And physician he was, always perceiving radiology in the context of the whole art and discipline of clinical medicine, so that he contributed to the literature not only concerning the technical aspects of radiodiagnosis and radiotherapy but also under such titles as The Clinical Nature of Radiology; Some Theoretical Considerations. His thesis, submitted as a candidate for the Fellowship of the British Association of Radiologists in 1937, was titled On the Importance of the General in the Study of the Particular.

He was the son of a printer and typesetter and was educated in Sydney at the Fort Street Model School, from which he matriculated in 1908 as dux of the school and medallist in English. The headmaster, on hearing that he had commenced employment after leaving school, called on his father and insisted that he be sent to university. So, with the intention of becoming a teacher, Eric Frecker commenced in the faculty of arts in 1909, gaining high distinctions and being awarded the Henry Wait medical bursary, conjointly with Frank Cotton who was later to become professor of physiology. However, as a division of the monetary prize would not have enabled him to finance the remaining half of a medical course, he and Frank Cotton agreed to toss; all or nothing. Eric Frecker won.

Taking first position in the medical degree examinations in every year, he graduated in 1916 with first-class honours and the University Medal. After a nine month simultaneous junior and senior residency at Sydney Hospital, he served in the AIF in France and gained membership of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. He returned to general practice in Kiama, New South Wales, in 1920, having a diagnostic x-ray machine in his surgery - a rare occurrence at that time.

In 1930 he studied in the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany, working with such men as Dr Graham, the originator of the Graham's test, before commencing practice in Sydney, in both Macquarie Street and Burwood, in radiodiagnosis and radiotherapy. During subsequent years he was active in the formation of the Australian and New Zealand Association of Radiology and in the establishment of the College of Radiologists of Australasia in 1949. After the Second World War, he was joined in partnership by one of his twin sons, Brian.

He was acknowledged to have had a brilliant academic career but is particularly remembered as a man of intellectual integrity and natural modesty who avoided all forms of pretence. His boat sailed on the wall beside the x-ray viewing box, beside Konrad Roentgen and above the self-made bookcases and a library covering subjects from gamma rays to gardens. Eric Frecker was very much a family man, taking great pleasure in his wife, his twin sons and his daughter; and his final departure was at the end of a family day of sailing.