William Robert Pitney, or Bob, as he was universally known, was one of the fathers of Australian haematology and, almost to the end of his life, one of its most highly regarded and best loved practitioners. Born in London, he received his schooling at St Kevin's College, Toorak and graduated from Melbourne University in 1943. After house appointments at St Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne, he saw service in the RAAF in Australian during 1945 to 1946 and on his discharge became a pathology registrar at the Royal Hobart Hospital.

In 1950 he went to London as registrar in haematology at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School and so began a long association with the School and its group of brilliant haematologists, notably John Dacie, RG Macfarlane and Rosemary Biggs. Almost immediately Bob was drawn into the field of coagulation disturbances, and in 1952 his name appeared as co-author of the classic paper describing "Christmas Disease", later to be known as Haemophilia B. From 1952 to 1954 came an interval at Louisville, Kentucky, where he worked on Vitamin B12 and folate metabolism, before returning to the Postgraduate School. By now he was firmly established as a specialist in his chosen subject. In 1956 came the first senior appointment as haematologist to the Royal Perth Hospital, a new position in Western Australia, where he stayed for the next six years, building up an integrated department with clinical and laboratory services. In 1961 he transferred to Sydney as haematologist to Prince Henry Hospital and associate professor of haematology at the University of NSW, another first.

In 1967 Bob once again returned to London as Reader under John Dacie, but within three years he was back in Sydney as Professor of Medicine at St George Hospital. In 1982 he succeeded RJ Walsh as Dean of Medicine at the University of NSW but retained an active attachment at St George until shortly before his untimely death from a rare malignancy on Christmas Eve, 1986.

Bob Pitney had an enormous influence on the develompent of Australian haematology. He was founder of the Haematology Society of Autralia, chief examiner in haematology for two terms at the RCPA, joint secretary of the 1966 and president of the 1986 Congress of the International Society of Haematology. At the RACP he was on the WA state committee, then a member of the editorial committee, and he played an active part in the formation of the Joint Specialist Advisory Committee in haematology with the College of Pathologists. He was an enthusiastic teacher, his pupils and co-workers occupying leading positions throughout the country, and a superb clinician. He published widely, including several monographs on diseases of the coagulation mechanism. One of his former registrars summed up the man:

Bob was a living model for many of his students, a mentor for his registrars, a good doctor for his patients and an exemplary human being for all those who knew him.

In 1956 Bob married Nadine Berger with whom he had one daughter and three sons, all of them university graduates and one a fellow of the College. That close-knit family and his church were at the centre of Bob's life, a life of high achievement and deep humanity.