Dr Peter Michael Rees, 1942–2022
With great sadness, we share the news of Dr Peter Michael Rees’s recent death. Peter had accepted his devastating diagnosis with courage and was determined to continue to enjoy as much of life as he could. His loving family and friends, his love of music, his sense of humor, watching the Canucks (even when they weren’t winning), cricket, rugby (providing that Wales was playing), and his memories of family holidays to Hawaii and Ucluelet all led Peter to frequently say, “That was a nice day,” as he was helped to bed at night. Thankfully, we were able to look after Peter at home until his last few days.
After receiving his doctorate in physiology from Cardiff University, Peter completed his medical undergraduate training at Oxford. He chose to do his internship “somewhere nice” as he was planning to return to continue his academic career in Oxford. Peter chose Vancouver and was accepted at VGH. His experience of Canadian clinical medicine, which was so different from what he had seen at Oxford, caused Peter to make a complete change in career plans and become the caring, conscientious clinical neurologist who was so valued both in Burnaby and at the outreach clinics in Fort St. John, Dawson Creek, and Powell River.
Being in Vancouver allowed Peter to fulfill his passions for river fishing and singing (in the Welsh Men’s Choir and the Bach Choir). He used his time away during curative chemotherapy for lymphoma in 2002 to write a highly respected and often-quoted meta-analysis on mild traumatic brain injury, which had become Peter’s focus of practice.
Peter is survived by his wife, Rosemary; his children, Rachel, Bryn (Monique), Joanne (Harvey), and Stephanie; seven grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. We miss him dearly.
—Rosemary Basson (Rees), MD
West Vancouver
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