George Douglas Robb
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sir George Douglas Robb (1899–1974) was a New Zealand surgeon, medical reformer, writer, and university chancellor. He was educated at the Auckland Grammar School and at the University of Otago (MB ChB). Robb had a reputation as something of a maverick and a rebel against the conventional medical establishment, as is discussed in a chapter in Brian Easton's book The Nationbuilders.
Robb was influential in the formation of the Auckland Medical School as part of the University of Auckland.
Robb was a close friend of the New Zealand poet and writer A. R. D. Fairburn, whose To a Friend in the Wilderness was dedicated to Robb, as was the following limerick:
- There once was a surgeon named Robb
- Who would take on the trickiest job
- Put a zip in your foreskin
- Sew on some more skin
- Or screw up your nuts for a bob
Douglas Robb died in his sleep on the morning of his 74th birthday.
[edit] References
- Entry in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography
- Robb, Douglas, Medical Odyssey, Auckland & London: Collins, 1968
- Brian Easton, The Nationbuilders, chapter 6
