“Mick” Powell, as he was almost always called, was born in Melbourne. His father was John Alfred Henry Powell, an architect, his mother Lilian Ethel Powell, née Whitelaw. Educated at the Melbourne High School, he then studied medicine at the University of Melbourne, where he not only graduated with honours in medicine and in obstetrics and gynaecology, but also won the inter-varsity high jump in 1922. He was a resident medical officer at the (Royal) Melbourne Hospital before proceeding to the (Royal) Children's Hospital where he spent most of his career.

He was medical superintendent at the Children’s in 1929-30. In 1931 he went to London to acquire his MRCP. On returning to the Children’s he was appointed honorary physician to outpatients in 1933.

During the second world war he served as a major in the AIF at the 2/7 AGH in the Middle East in 1942-43; he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel and was attached to the 2/5 AGH in New Guinea and Morotai in 1944-45 and was mentioned in despatches.

After the war he became an in-patient physician in l947 and in 1964 his career took another major step forward when he became associate physician to the new cardiac investigatory clinic. He pursued this new interest as a Carnegie Fellow in Boston and was so enthusiastic about his experience there that after his return we at the Children’s often affectionately referred to Mick as “Mostyn from Boston”.

He was an excellent general paediatrician and did outstanding work from 1935 as consultant to the Consultative Committee on Poliomyelitis in Victoria. He was also active in the advancement of paediatrics generally and was a great supporter of the Australian Paediatric Association (later the Australian College of Paediatrics) and organised the program of its annual meeting for a number of years.

But perhaps his greatest achievements were in the field of paediatric cardiology. His crucially important role in the selection of patients for surgery was recognised by the cardiac surgery operating suite at the hospital being named after him, and he wrote a number of papers on cardiac matters during the fifties.

Mick Powell also played an important role in the social and sporting life of the hospital. An excellent athlete all his life, he continued playing squash into his late seventies and was a member of Australian Squash Veterans team, which played internationally.

He was a family man. He married Phyllis Leckie, and they had one son and three daughters. A son-in-law, David Fearon followed him in choosing a paediatric career. Mick Powell had a strong but endearing personality and his ability to make a team of individuals work harmoniously together contributed greatly to all his achievements, but perhaps most of all to putting Melbourne on the map as a widely recognised centre of excellence for paediatric cardiac medicine and surgery.