Roger SUTTON

SUTTON, Roger
With great sadness we announce that Professor Emeritus Roger A.L. Sutton DM, FRCPC, died on September 10, 2014, after a courageous two-year battle with bladder cancer. Roger led an extraordinary life of accomplishment, adventure and family. He will be deeply missed by his loving and devoted wife Wendy to whom he was happily married for 52 years, and his two proud daughters, Fiona and Nicola. Roger was born in Lancashire, England. He received his medical training at Oxford University and his post-graduate training at University College Hospital, London, England. Roger, Wendy and their two young daughters emigrated to Canada in the early 1970s, where Roger worked initially at the Royal Victoria Hospital and McGill University in Montreal. In the mid 1970s the family moved to Vancouver, where Roger became the Head of the Division of Nephrology and subsequently Head of the Department of Medicine, Vancouver General Hospital and President of the Canadian Society of Nephrology. In 1978, he was awarded the prestigious Medal in Medicine of the Royal College of Physicians of Canada. Possessing an unusually exacting and curious mind, he became internationally recognized and acclaimed in his speciality of nephrology, with particular expertise in osteoporosis and renal stones, and was widely admired for his clinical, research and administrative abilities. In 1993 Roger and Wendy travelled to Pakistan where Roger took up a seven-year position as the Head of the Department of Medicine at the Aga Khan University in Karachi and then Dean of Health Sciences, Aga Khan University where he was the central figure in the development of the curriculum for the new medical school, before returning to Vancouver in 2000. Roger had a life-long passion for ornithology, and it is quite likely that he ultimately came to know as much about birds as he did about medicine. His love of birds and bird watching started in childhood. Later in life his bird watching expertise was accompanied by an equal accomplishment in the photography of birds (and the many travels he made to find and photograph particular birds). His fearless love for travel and adventure has been an inspiration to his daughters. Roger's life-long achievements in medicine and birding were associated with quiet calm, a great sense of humour and enviable modesty. He was passionate about life and took great joy in the company of his family and friends. He was a loving husband and father and caring physician and will be much missed by his family, numerous patients, colleagues, and friends, and his many beloved students and fellows who now hold senior positions in medicine throughout the world. He is survived by his wife Wendy and two daughters Fiona and Nicola, and in England, his brother Nigel, in-laws Gill, Liz, Michael, and Marshall, nieces and nephews Alison, Julia, Andrew, Julia, Ann and John, all of whom loved him dearly. A Celebration of Roger's Life will be held in the Auditorium at the Chan Centre for Family Health Education at 938 West 28th Avenue, Vancouver, on Wednesday, October 1, 2014 from 4 - 6 p.m. For information or directions, please call (604) 875-2382. If desired, in lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Osteoporosis Canada, at www.osteoporosis.ca/inmemory, or BC Women's Hospital + Health Centre Foundation at www.bcwomensfoundation.org. Our thanks to Roger's friends, who supported him and his family throughout his illness, and the doctors and staff at Vancouver General Hospital, the BC Cancer Agency, and in particular the Palliative Care Unit, for their compassion and care.