Thursday, October 31, 2024

Edward Gale, 1929 - 2018

Dr George Edward Gale (MB BCh 1952, MRCP 1959, MD 1964, elected FRCP 1971) was a specialist physician and cardiologist who made exceptional contributions to general medicine and cardiology during his long career. His empathy, humility and gentle manner endeared him to all, as did his fun-loving nature and wit.


After his experience at Hammersmith Hospital, London, and the Western Infirmary in Glasgow while studying for his MRCP (Edin.), he returned to South Africa and was appointed physician, and in 1968 senior physician, at Johannesburg Hospital and the University of the Witwatersrand Medical School.


Edward relinquished his full-time academic service in 1974 and went into private practice as a specialist physician, while maintaining his much-loved sessions each week at Wits Medical School and Johannesburg Hospital. He was widely revered for his teaching in the cardiac catheterisation laboratory, where he shared his skills with younger colleagues, all of whom remember him with respect and fondness. He was much involved in the Johannesburg branch of the Southern African Cardiac Society, where he was executive member and president for a year. He also examined candidates for the South African College of Physicians.


Edward’s diagnostic skills, which combined his excellent academic knowledge with a deep and rare insight, were world-renowned, and colleagues would often seek his advice to help assess complicated cases. ‘He was always there for us, unobtrusive yet firm in his clinical opinion,’ said a colleague.

‘He was a shining example from whom we learnt so much. His selfless dedication to the science of medicine and the care of patients will not be forgotten.’


Edward treated – and cherished – each patient as a unique soul: with grace, humility, wisdom, tenderness and a deep understanding and compassion for the human condition in all its suffering. For him, medicine was not only a vocation but a loud and profound clarion call, from his early childhood, to heal the sick, to which he responded with the maximum sagacity and empathy possible.

Well done, good and faithful servant. 

Edward leaves three daughters, Antonia, Caroline and Katherine.

Caroline Bateman Daughter, Cape Town, South Africa caroline@kingsleymail.co.za 

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