Brendan Francis Pattison, MB BS, DipRACOG

Picture: Mark Jesser/The Border Mail

Brendan Francis Pattison was born in Melbourne on 24 June 1958; he was the second of six children of Joan and Frank Pattison. He studied at St Joseph’s Christian Brothers College before attending Monash University for his medical degree. From 1982 to 1984, he was at Queen Victoria Hospital in Melbourne, where he did his internship and was later employed as senior resident medical officer. He then moved to Albury, where he became a partner in the Lavington Clinic for 31 years and was the practice principal for 9 years. Brendan was heavily involved in the training of general practitioners in Albury, which he loved. He had a special interest in asthma, particularly in children, and diabetes. He was instrumental in the development of the Albury After Hours Clinic, where he was the director from its inception 8 years ago until his retirement in May 2015.

Brendan remained youthful throughout his life, and from a young age, he showed his impish humour and self-confidence, especially on the sporting field. He loved cricket and football and, later in life, cycling and golf. In the latter, he achieved a coveted hole-in-one and had an annual tournament with his long time friends on a Murray River golf course. This has now become a memorial event in his honour.

Brendan was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in May 2014. After intensive chemotherapy, he underwent a stem cell transplant; however, he never achieved full remission, probably due to having a p17 deletion on one of his chromosomes. Despite the use of elotuzumab, which he was given on compassionate grounds, he had a leukaemic transformation and died on 15 August 2015. Brendan faced his terminal illness with the same good humour and rationality that he had throughout his life. He is survived by Debby, his wife of 33 years, his children Arthur, Dale, Alastair, Ainslie and Emily, and grandson Elliot, siblings Maurice, Anne, Kevin, Marita and Andrew, and parents Joan and Frank.