Sir John Frew, universally known as Jock, collapsed and died at Tullamarine Airport at 7am on 8 May 1985 while on his way to attend a meeting of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians in Sydney. He had worked in his rooms the day before. Reitrement was not for him. He worked up to the last moment. Jock was born in Melbourne, the son of Captain JD Frew, a master mariner, and Mrs Letwas Frew, an accomplished golfer. He was educated first at Camberwell Grammar School and then at Scotch College. He was active in school affairs, taking a part in the school play, participating in sport and acting as monitor of the physics laboratory. He then, with a Senior Scholarship, commenced a medical course at Melbourne University. In his second year he entered Ormond College and he retained a link with Ormond for the rest of his life. It was at Ormond College Chapel that a private funeral service was conducted by Dr Davis McCaughey, a previous master of Ormond. At the University, Jock started playing rugby and achieved Melbourne and Australian university blues. Again, he kept in touch with the University Rugby Club for the rest of his life.

On graduation in 1935 he was appointed as a resident medical officer to the Melbourne Hospital, commencing an association that was to continue with war-time interruption for the rest of his life. Following a year as a senior medical officer, he was appointed medical superintendent in 1938. Apart from his duties, he worked actively in the medical out-patient department, particularly in the first year of the war. He obtained his MD in 1938. Jock left Australia with the 13th AGH in 1941 for Malaysia and became a prisoner of war with the fall of Singapore. After spending some time in Changi gaol, he was sent to the Thailand end of the notorious Burma-Thailand Railway Project and given the task of caring for the Asian Coolie Labouring Force. In this capacity he worked partly as a doctor and partly as a coolie, enduring the brutality of the Japanese and the recurrent malaria and dysentery. After the war Jock was appointed as honorary physician to outpatients at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and commenced consultant practice, quickly establishing a reputation as a physician and teacher.

In 1947 he travelled to England with a Red Cross Fellowship and commenced working with Professor Max Rosenheim (later Lord Rosenheim) at University College Hospital on the problem of hypertension. With Professor Rosenheim he established a lasting friendship and a special attraction of later visits to England was the opportunity of seeing him. When Professor Rosenheim visited Australia he was a welcome visitor to the Frews' home. On return to Melbourne, Jock resumed his career at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. He held successively the posts of honorary physician to outpatients and then to inpatients, secretary and chairman of the medical staff, sub-dean of the clinical school, member of the Faculty of Medicine, lecturer in therapeutics, member and vice-president of the Board of Management and finally president for six years. He visited the Hospital daily and was in touch with members of the staff at all levels and made himself familiar with all aspects of the working of this great Hospital. After he stepped down from the presidency someone asked "will anyone else ever understand fully how this hospital works". Soon after his return from England, he took an active interest in College affairs. He was vocal at College meetings and as a "young Turk" was openly critical of such matters as the preponderence of older Fellows on the College Council. In 1954 Jock was appointed censor and served in that capacity until 1970, becoming censor—in-chief in 1966 to 1970. He was described as a penetrating but fair censor, skilled in assessing the maturity and performance of candidates. He enjoyed his term as a censor and the censors' dinner was an important occasion for him.

Jock was elected to the College council in 1961, to the executive committee in 1966 and then successively vice-president and finally president in 1972 to 1974. Other RACP committees included the Victorian state committee, therapeutic advisory committee, the committee for South East Asia and the committee on nuclear medicine. For many years Jock served the Repatriation Committee as a visiting physician to Heidelberg Hospital where he played an active part in the postgraduate teaching problem. For a time he was a commissioner of the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories. He was a member of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee for many years and became its chairman and was a member of the Australian Drug Evaluation Committee. At the time of his death he was a member of the NHMRC medical research ethics committee. He served as a councillor of the Victorian branch of the AMA and was elected by this body as a fellow in 1986. For more than twenty years he was chief medical officer to the Colonial Mutual Life Assurance Company.

After his retirement from the RMH, Jock was asked to join the board of the Freemasons Hospital. He became chairman of this board and also of the medical advisory committee. For many years he was actively involved in student and postgraduate teaching. Postgraduate tutorials were conducted on Saturday mornings particularly for candidates for the Membership examination. He was one of the early participants in the RACP involvement in courses in advanced medicine held in Singapore and Malaysia. In 1971 he was made an Honorary Fellow of the Academy of Medicine of Singapore.

With all these activities, Jock managed to carry on a busy consulting practice. That he was able to do so was due in no small measure to the loyal and efficient support of his devoted secretary Audrey Lee. Her absence years ago in England for a period of some months led to urgent signals for her prompt return. In an era of increasingly specialised medical practice, Jock practiced a wide range of general medicine. He retained a special interest in hypertension, renal disease an thyrotoxicosis but in practice he was one of the last general physicians. A significant part of his work was the examination for solicitors of workers seeking compensation for injuries in the work place. Not uncommonly this resulted in attendance at court at short notice, interrupting consultations at his rooms. In addition he gave continuing care to a number of old patients.

When in hospital or undergoing surgical procedures, they were visited often either before or after returning from meetings in Sydney or Canberra. He was consulted by a large number of doctors and their families and never charged a fee for his services. In his relationship with patients he achieved a remarkable level of trust and devotion. He was their friend as well as their doctor. Jock took no regular holidays. In the summer, with his wife Joy, he would spend days watching a test match at Melbourne or even driving to Sydney for the same purpose. At other times, when the opportunity offered, he watched other matches at the Melbourne Cricket Ground or less important district games. Brief holidays were taken in Malaysia on several occasions, renewing acquaintances with South East Asian friends. He had the gift of easy friendship with a wide circle of friends and his College activities led to an ever-widening circle. His sense of humour was described as impish. He enjoyed teasing people but his wife remarked that he only teased people he was fond of.

In 1940 Jock married Joy Bell who graduated in medicine two years after he did. As a junoir RMO Joy was actively involved in the establishment of the Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service and she worked as an honorary medical officer with this service for more than forty years. Joy's other major activity was with the Royal District Nursing Service, again over many years, holding executive positions throughout this period. Theirs was a successful partnership, each supporting the other's activities. The Frew's home was the site of much hospitality for College and Hospital activities. Their son John is a very successful chemical engineer. Jock Frew was one of the last of the honorary physicians of the Royal Melbourne Hospital. He described himself as a "relic" of the honorary system. He was a very successful general physician, a dedicated teacher and a man who played an active part in all the organisations with which he was associated.