The death of Harry Maynard Rennie in his ninety-third year closes the life of an unusual man. He was neither flamboyant nor pushy. He did not seek publicity, but his exceptional service on behalf of his fellow men and women was publicly recognised in 1968 by the award of a well-deserved CBE.

He was born in Sydney to Dr George Edward Rennie, a consultant physician, and Hester Evangeline Rennie nee Brookes. Three things stand out in Maynard Rennie's life and activities. These are: his religion, his family and his profession of medicine. His medical career began when, after leaving Sydney Grammar School, he entered the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Sydney; the seeds of it had been sown in earlier years by the example of his illustrious father, George Edward Rennie, one of Sydney's most respected physicians, whom Maynard greatly admired. Unfortunately, his father died in 1923 while Maynard was still a young student, but the memory of his fine example lingered on.

Medical students get to know one another pretty well as for much of their course they work and are taught close together in small groups. The story goes that when the young Maynard was assigned to such a group early in his student career for the study of anatomy in the dissecting room, his new colleagues asked him his name. “Maynard”, he said. One replied, “Maynard? We can't call you Maynard. It will have to be Ted”. From that day he was Ted Rennie to his fellow-students and he remained Ted to his colleagues throughout his life. We always called him Ted and he always said, “Ted Rennie here” when ringing you on the phone. His willingness to serve others was seen in his undergraduate days. He joined the Christian Union and became its president in 1925. He was a member of the Council of the Medical Society and the editor of its journal. At Wesley College he was librarian and a member of the House Committee.

After graduating in 1928, he spent two years as a resident medical officer at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and then went to England for postgraduate study and experience. In 1932 he passed the examination for Membership of the Royal College of Physicians of London a first and important step towards specialisation as a physician. Back in Sydney later that year, he and Ruby, whom he had married in 1930, settled in Ashfield where he commenced general practice. He would hardly have foreseen at the time that he would remain in one or other form of medical practice for over fifty years. Although the time he gave to medical practice was reduced in his later years, he did not finally relinquish his work until he was seventy-nine.

In 1933 while in general practice at Ashfield, he was appointed a Clinical Assistant in Medicine at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, an institution which he continued to serve with distinction until he reached the statutory retirement age of sixty. He became an Honorary Assistant Physician in 1938. In that same year, the Royal Australasian College of Physicians was founded. Ted Rennie was one of the first to obtain Membership of the College, by examination, in its foundation year.

In 1945 he took the big plunge, leaving the security of his general practice in Ashfield to set up as a consultant physician – a ‘Macquarie Street specialist’. He was very successful, having good support from doctors who referred patients to him. In addition, many of his Ashfield patients showed how highly they regarded him by following him to Macquarie Street and remaining faithful to him in the years to come. The next year (1946), he was made a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, and later Fellowship of the London College was bestowed on him.

With so many of its medical staff away on military service, things did not change much at Prince Alfred Hospital during World War 11, but soon after it ended, medicine began to develop rapidly at the hospital and Ted Rennie had a special role in this development. Having an interest in thoracic medicine, he joined forces with Cotter Harvey (qv 2), a senior physician who was restricting his activities to the care of patients with pulmonary tuberculosis, of whom there were then many. Together they formed a new entity, the Thoracic Unit, to care for patients with all kinds of lung disease. It flourished, and was soon joined by Maurice Joseph, a physician, and John MacMahon, as surgical consultant. The Thoracic Unit continued to develop, still flourishes and has a proud record in patient care, medical research and the training of specialists in thoracic medicine.

Harvey and Rennie were very different characters. Harvey was a nimble, quick moving, quick thinking man with ready answers to problems, whereas Rennie was careful, methodical, thorough and completely reliable. They complemented one another well. Ted became an Honorary Physician in 1956, joining a small, elite group of senior physicians at the hospital. By 1959, the work of the Thoracic Unit had become so demanding that he relinquished his general medical duties and became Honorary Thoracic Physician. When he retired from the active staff in 1964, he was made an Honorary Consultant Physician, a post of honour which he held until his death.

The other important focus of Ted’s medical activities was the Royal Australasian College of Physicians. In 1950, being aware of his abilities, the College Council appointed him Honorary Secretary of the College and an ex-officio Member of the Council, a post he held for what was then a record ten years. He built a strong, fruitful working relationship with Dorothy Roseby (qv), the full-time College Secretary; and he had as mentors a number of senior Fellows who were influential councillors and office-bearers, such as SA Smith, CG McDonald, and Walter MacCallum (qv 1). I think it was these gentlemen who taught both Dorothy Roseby and Ted Rennie the value, purely medicinal of course, of a whisky and soda at the end of an arduous day! They were also his mentors in other more virtuous ways. After his long term as Honorary Secretary, Ted remained on the College Council as an elected Councillor, Vice-President and, in 1970, as President – the highest honour the College could bestow on him. He retired from the Council in 1974, after twenty-four years of service to medicine of the highest order.

There were other areas of medicine in which Ted Rennie gave outstanding service. I will mention only two. He was a member of the NSW Medical Board from 1962 to 1974, and its President from 1972. The Medical Board is the statutory body responsible for registering those qualified to practise medicine in New South Wales, and for removing from the register any who fail to live up to its high standards. The other of these was a committee set up in 1970 by the Commonwealth Government to determine the requirements for recognition as specialists for the purpose of the National Health Service and to list those who met these requirements. It was a high-powered committee of senior specialists in the various disciplines, not just medicine, nominated by the appropriate College or specialist association and appointed by the Commonwealth Government. Ted Rennie was a foundation member of that Committee and its first president. Under his guidance, guidelines for the recognition of specialists were laid down. Ted retired from that post in 1979.

In the medical sphere alone, Ted Rennie gave service of extraordinarily high order to his country, his profession and his fellow men and women. His strong religious convictions and the ethic of working for the common good and of excellence in that work, were clearly a driving force behind him, but certainly did not obtrude in these activities. He worked equally happily with those of other religious beliefs and those with none at all, and he shared their friendship. All who worked closely with him admired his ability and the high standards he set for himself and achieved.

The deaths of his son David in 1983 and his beloved Ruby four years later were severe blows to him, and his later years were made difficult for him by periodic bouts of depression, with spells of his former self in between. His son John and daughter Margaret and their families survive him. I will always remember him as he was at his peak a tall, handsome, talented, caring doctor, setting an example of excellence which few could hope to emulate.