Selwyn Nelson was educated at Sydney Boys’ High School, and graduated from the University of Sydney in 1930. Selwyn did his residency training at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital (RPAH), and in 1933 he married Willa Rowohl, who had been a fellow medical student. They established a general practice in Blayney, moved to Randwick just before the war, and passed their examinations for membership of the RACP.

Willa ran the Randwick practice during the war, while Selwyn served as Deputy Director of Medical Services, with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.

Selwyn had been attracted to the care of patients with chronic disease while in general practice, and was commissioned by the late Sir Herbert Schlink, Chairman of RPAH, to investigate trends in rheumatic diseases while overseas, with a view to setting up an arthritis clinic at RPAH. In 1947 Selwyn qualified for membership of both the London and Edinburgh Colleges of Physicians, gained further experience in his area of special interest, and on his return to Australia devoted himself wholeheartedly to the care of people with arthritis and related conditions.

Selwyn Nelson’s career in rheumatology spanned a period of 40 years during which there were spectacular advances in the treatment of rheumatic diseases, their recognition as a major cause of morbidity and economic loss, and the emergence of rheumatology from the shadows of relative obscurity into its deserved place among the medical specialties.

Selwyn was to be remembered by his patients for the expert care and compassionate support which he provided; and by his colleagues for the pivotal role which he played in promoting the specialty, helping to establish the committees, associations, foundations and clinics which were essential to the development of rheumatology in this country, and for his example and generosity in attracting young graduates to the specialty.

He was one of a small group in Sydney who worked tirelessly to establish the Australian Rheumatism Association (renamed the Australian Rheumatology Association [ARA] in 1989), and the Australian Rheumatism Council (later renamed Australian Rheumatism Foundation); and to help define the shifting and sometimes uncertain borders between rheumatology, physical medicine and rehabilitation. When the time came to set up a regional league in the Asia/Pacific area, Selwyn helped to persuade sceptics in the International League Against Rheumatism (ILAR) that such a move was appropriate. His efforts were rewarded in 1961 with the establishment of the South East Asia and Pacific Area League Against Rheumatism (SEAPAL, now known as APLAR: Asia Pacific League of Associations for Rheumatology), of which he was Foundation President; its inaugural meeting was held in Sydney in 1963. When it was the tum of SEAPAL to provide the President-Elect of ILAR, the position was offered to Selwyn, who was the International League’s Vice President at the time. Due to his uncertain health and his age, however, he felt that he should decline the honour, and nominated his colleague, Dr Ray Robinson, in his place.

Selwyn was responsible for establishing and developing the arthritis clinic at RPAH, his teaching institution. His success was a tribute to his hard work, determination and example. As an associate physician he did not have access to the inner circle of influence, and so he had to work harder and with less support than some in other specialties. His success was recognised by his appointment as consultant rheumatologist when he retired from the active staff in 1968. When the Combined Arthritis Unit at the RPA and Rachel Forster Hospitals was later established, his colleagues were proud to name the unit in his honour

His chronic asthma did not diminish his capacity for work, or his willingness to extend his sphere of influence and to sit on countless committees. If his breathlessness sometimes added an edge of impatience to his voice during lengthy debate, it did not reduce the force of his argument, and may have brought some discussions more quickly to the conclusion which he sought. Yet there was never any suggestion of haste in the care of his patients. Many of his colleagues, seeing Selwyn’s former patients after his retirement from practice in 1986, were in no doubt that his departure has left a void which others are unable to fill.

Selwyn enjoyed the respect and friendship of many internationally renowned rheumatologists, visited them on his frequent trips abroad, and offered them hospitality when they came to Sydney. These contacts were of benefit also to Selwyn’s younger colleagues, for whom he was often able to arrange visits and training opportunities as they increased their rheumatological experience.

His interests and influence extended beyond rheumatology: voluntary activities included service as Commissioner of the St John Ambulance Brigade (1959-65), and as Chairman (1975-80) of the Post-Graduate Committee in Medicine of the University of Sydney.

Willa was a wonderful companion to Selwyn; herself a member of the ARA, she attended most of its local and international meetings with Selwyn, and enjoyed with him the social and professional contacts which these provided. She remembers vividly a meeting in Argentina, when their hosts, determined that she and Selwyn should feel at home with some fellow countrymen, arranged for them to spend an evening with a group of bemused Austrians.

The death in 1989 of their son David, a noted immunologist and head of the Kolling Institute at the Royal North Shore Hospital, was a terrible blow to them both. Selwyn was especially remembered with admiration for the dignity and courage with which he spoke about David at the Faculty meeting to which he was invited when his son’s death was recorded.

Selwyn retired from clinical practice on his 75th birthday, but retained his capacity for hard work, his enthusiasm for travel, and his devotion to his three grandchildren: Dr Victoria Nelson, Timothy Nelson and Edward Nelson. He was survived by these three, by Willa and by his son Dr Michael Nelson, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Germanic Studies at the University of Sydney.