John Radford was born in Goulburn in 1916, the fourth child of Lewis Bostock Radford, Anglican Bishop of Goulburn, and Maud Isabella (née James). He was educated at Cranbrook School, Bellevue Hill, and the Faculty of Medicine and St. Paul’s College, University of Sydney.

He graduated MB BS in 1939. In the Senior Year Book 1938 his colleagues marvelled “that one small head could carry all he knew.” They added: “Those of us who have visited John in his ‘sanctum sanctorum’ have seen ample proof of his academic achievements, in his well-filled bookcase, and have caught a glimpse of the piano, which stands as a memorial to perhaps the least known of his hobbies. He has a somewhat retiring nature, but of late years he has always been ready to mix pleasure with work.”

After residencies at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital (RPAH) he enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). In June 1940, John married Molly Leighton Kesteven. In the RAAF he was first posted to Laverton and then to Darwin. As a result of Japanese bombing raids of Darwin the Air Force Base and airfield were devastated. After an excellent period of war service that ended in 1945 he held the rank of Squadron Leader.

He then returned as a registrar at RPAH for a year and began general practice in South Coogee in partnership with Dr Fred Liggins. He transferred his practice to Coogee in 1951 and did honorary physician work at RPAH and Royal South Sydney Hospital. In 1964 he left general practice to join the New South Wales branch of the AMP Society as its medical officer until his retirement in1980.

He obtained the membership of the RACP in 1949 and became a Fellow in 1961.

In addition to his medical responsibilities John had many important appointments, which spanned an eminent career. He was a founding member of the Royal Australian College of General Practice, serving as a member of its Council and research committee and later as its President. He was a member of the prestigious National Health and Medical Research Council for eighteen years and chaired its Medial Advisory Committee. He was primarily responsible for its National Morbidity Survey 1962-63. This project involved 85 general practitioners throughout Australia recording 307771 episodes of illness over a twelve-month period.

He served for a time on the Australian Drug Advisory Committee, (ADEC) and as a member of the Council and Executive of the National Heart Association. Apart from medicine, he was an elected member of the National Roads and Motorists Association’s Council and appointed to the Board of Management in 1978. These appointments indicate his unique abilities in fields of administration and research. His principal publications in scientific journals covered research and morbidity recording in general practice, infectious hepatitis, acute respiratory infections and disability due to myocardial infarction.

His interests and hobbies covered music, photography, and fishing. In his early days he was an enthusiastic bushwalker and keen swimmer. Music was a lifetime enduring passion. He was both pianist and organist, loved opera and followed live performances from a libretto. He also sang well, especially Gilbert and Sullivan ditties. When he was president of the Randwick Musical Society, the Society hosted performances in his living room and the Randwick Town Hall.

His two daughters, Katherine Kerr, and Elizabeth Flanagan survived him. Katherine describes him as “a sensitive and retiring man with an intellectual passion for knowledge and a keen sense of humour. He was an inspiring and loving father and a devoted husband.” He is also remembered as a caring, compassionate man with a strong sense of citizenship and public duty. He was closely loyal to the Anglican church and a man of deep integrity.