Lindsay Haas died of metastatic melanoma in Wellington on July 2, 2011. Dr Haas had been a neurologist at Wellington Hospital for more than 35 years and for 21 of those years he had been the head of the hospital’s Neurology Department. He was one of New Zealand’s leading neurologists. He was well known to neurologists throughout the world, not only because of his gregarious nature, convivial personality and distinctive appearance, but through his long-running series - “the Neurological Stamp”, which appeared in each issue of the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry for almost 15 years. He was instantly recognisable from his tall stature, spectacles and shirt tail typically hanging loose.

Lindsay Haas was born on May 3, 1941 in Pahiatua in Wairarapa. His paternal grandfather, Ludwig Haas, was Jewish and a prominent German politician. Ludwig Haas had trained as a lawyer before World War I. He was awarded the Iron Cross during the war. Following the war he was the leader of the German Democratic Party in the Weimar Republic and at one point the Minister of the Interior. He was a member of the Reichstag when he died suddenly in 1930, aged only 55. Lindsay’s father, Karl Haas, was studying law at the University of Heidelberg when Hitler took power in 1933. Karl Haas fled from Germany and he emigrated to New Zealand in 1937. He married Amelia Morris, whose father’s family had fled from Lithuania during the pogroms at the end of the nineteenth century. They purchased a small farm near Pahiatua. Amelia Haas was a shrewd businesswoman and established a successful passion fruit bottling industry, which supplemented the income from the farm. Karl and Amelia Haas had two sons, Lindsay and his younger brother, Tony, a journalist and writer. The home atmosphere was cultured and intellectual. Music, literature and academic study were esteemed. Karl had a substantial library, and spent his evenings reading. Karl's company was sought by local academics and prominent members of the New Zealand Jewish community.

Lindsay Haas received his primary education at a small country school in Mangamutu, two miles from Pahiatua. He then attended Nelson College as a boarder. In 1959 he completed the medical intermediate year at the University of Otago and gained entry to the Otago Medical School. In 1962 he was awarded a Junior Research Scholarship in Medical Science, which enabled him to interrupt his medical studies to enroll for the Bachelor of Medical Science degree course. During this year he and Ian Holdaway worked together on “The effects of urinary output upon the excretion of urea in man” supervised by Professor James Robinson, and published in the Australasian Annals of Medicine. He graduated with a B.Med.Sc. in 1963 and resumed his medical studies. He lived at first at Arana Hall, and later flatted with Jeff Stevens and in his fifth year with Ian Holdaway, George Foote, Denis Calvert and Chris Heath who became life long friends. He completed the last year of the M.B. Ch.B. course in Wellington and graduated in 1965. He remained in Wellington to work as a house surgeon and then as a medical registrar. In 1968 he won the Wellington Hospital House Physicians’ Clinical Essay Prize with a dissertation entitled “Sweat as an aid to clinical diagnosis”. He passed the MRACP examination in 1969 and in the same year he was appointed Neurological Registrar at Wellington Hospital. His early neurological career was greatly influenced by Dr. Jack Bergin, who persuaded him to pursue a career in neurology. From 1971 to 1974 he continued his training in neurology in London. At different times during those three years he was Academic Registrar at the National Hospital, Queen Square; Honorary Clinical Assistant at the Neurological Clinic at Moorfield’s Eye Hospital; Neurology and Psychiatry Registrar at St. Thomas’ Hospital; and Neurology Registrar at Queen Square and Maida Vale. Ian McDonald, Ralph Ross Russell, Reggie Kelly, P.K. Thomas and John Marshall had particularly important influences on his career. While at Queen Square he acquired a degree of notoriety by appearing on one of Dr John Newsom Davis’ ward rounds dressed in walk shorts and long socks. Before returning to New Zealand he worked as a locum Senior Registrar in Paediatric Neurology in Manchester and then for six months he was Fellow in Clinical Electrophysiology at McMaster University Medical School in Hamilton, Ontario.

While he was in Manchester in 1974, Lindsay Haas met Dr. Margaret (“Maggie”) Lewis who was working there as a Paediatric Registrar. They were married in 1977. Margaret Lewis was the first paediatric oncologist in Wellington and was a Senior Lecturer in Paediatrics in the Wellington Clinical School for more than 20 years. They had three daughters: Jo, Criggy and Rachel.

In 1974 Lindsay Haas became a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and in the same year he was appointed full-time neurologist at Wellington Hospital. He was strongly committed to the public health system and although for about 10 years he conducted a small amount of private consulting practice at the Wakefield Hospital, he remained a member of Wellington Hospital’s full-time staff until illness forced him to cease practice at the end of 2010. He established an EMG service, which had been temporarily started by Dr. Austin Sumner in 1971. Lindsay Haas introduced long term EEG monitoring, evoked potentials and botulinum toxin injections for the treatment of movement disorders to Wellington Hospital. He was an early and enthusiastic adopter of evidence based medicine. For many years he made a very significant contribution to clinical leadership within the Neurology Department and in Wellington Hospital as a whole. In 1988 he succeeded Dr. Dick Hornabrook as the head of the Neurology Department and he remained in charge of the Neurology Department, as Head of Department and then as Clinical Leader, until 2009. From 1997 to 2000 he also was the Clinical Leader of Neurology, Neurosurgery, Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology. He served as the Chairman of the Wellington Hospital Senior Medical Staff (1987-1989) and Chairman of the Combined Medical Staff of Wellington and Hutt Hospitals (1989-1991). In these roles he was a formidable advocate for patients and for the interests of his colleagues.

On the national scene he was the Secretary of the New Zealand Committee of the RACP from 1992 to 1998 and he served on the Executive of the Wellington Branch of the New Zealand Medical Association from 1990 to 1997. From 1993-1995 he was the President of the Neurological Association of New Zealand and at different times he represented the Neurological Association on the Scientific Advisory Committee of the New Zealand Neurological Foundation (1984-1990) and the Specialist Advisory Committee in Neurology in the RACP (1991-1998). He was a ministerial appointee on the Medical Misadventure Advisory Committee of the Accident Compensation Corporation from 1996 to 2011 and he was a member of the Neurology and Analgesic Sub-committees of PHARMAC from1996 to 2011. He served on many other committees including the Complaints Assessment Committee of the Medical Council (2000-2010) and the Advisory Medical Panel of the Parkinsonism Society of New Zealand (1999-2011).

Lindsay Haas was involved in undergraduate and postgraduate teaching for more than 30 years. He was a Clinical Lecturer in the Wellington Clinical School from 1978 to 2009. As a teacher he sometimes could be gruff, prickly and demanding, but students, house surgeons and registrars appreciated his clinical skill and knowledge. Four of his trainees were awarded Australian Association of Neurologists (now Australian and New Zealand Association of Neurologists) training posts in England or the United States and 15 of his trainees are now neurologists in New Zealand or overseas. One of them, Professor David Miller, is now the Professor of Neurology at the Institute of Neurology, National Hospital for Nervous Diseases, Queen Square, London.

Lindsay Haas published many scientific papers, but he is best remembered for his unique series on neurological stamps published in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry. This series combined his knowledge of the history of neurology with a lifelong interest in philately. From 1991 to 2003 each issue of the journal published an illustration of a stamp with a neuroscience theme accompanied by a brief note describing the historical and neurological significance of the stamp. The “Neurological Stamp” series was extremely popular with readers.
One of the editors is said to have quipped “It is the first, and often the only article I read”

He had a wide circle of friends, both from within the medical profession in Australasia and internationally, and from outside it. He enjoyed the company of others and he was a great conversationalist. He was softly spoken and easily amused. He had many interests outside medicine including literature, classical music and philately. In recent years he developed an interest in photography; his photographic work was of exhibition quality. He was a keen tramper and skier. When younger he was an enthusiastic but famously erratic fast bowler in cricket.

As a clinical neurologist Lindsay Haas was highly regarded by his colleagues, and frequently consulted by them, and their relatives. He maintained an extensive library of specialist monographs, excusing their cost to Maggie, by his relative isolation from expert advice available in neurological centres of excellence. He had the habit of reading journal articles for 3 hours each night. He kept a bank of filing cabinets filled with journal papers which “were not (yet) in the books”. His clinical acumen, attention to detail and willingness to “go the extra mile” in ensuring that his patients received a timely and thorough assessment, investigation and treatment ensured that a pattern of clinical excellence in neurology that was established by Dr. I.M. (“Dusty”) Allen and continued by Dr. Jack Bergin and Dr. Richard (“Dick”) Hornabrook has continued in Wellington Hospital to the present day. Lindsay Haas’ gruff and sometimes blunt manner concealed a kindness and deep concern for his patients. In his latter years deafness was an increasing clinical and social handicap.

In spite of a number of his own medical problems in recent years, Lindsay Haas remained robustly healthy until he developed metastatic melanoma. He had to cease practice at the end of 2010, but he hoped to be able to resume work if the tumour responded to treatment. Unfortunately this was not the case and although he was never well enough to resume clinical practice, he maintained a close interest in the activities of the Neurology Department and whenever he could, he attended its clinical meetings until a few weeks before his death on July 2, 2011. Lindsay Haas is survived by his wife, and his three daughters.