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    Obituary From ANZCA

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    Pippa Newstead
    Dr. John Irwin Newstead was an anesthesiologist who worked in New Zealand, Australia, Saudi Arabia, and Australia. He had a passion for anesthesia equipment and standards and made contributions to the field through his work on technical committees. He is remembered as a highly regarded teacher and loyal friend who approached his work with originality and pursued his varied interests in aviation, steam engines, and train photography until his sudden death in 2010 at the age of 74.

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    Obituary From ANZCA

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    Pippa Newstead
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    Dr. John Irwin Newstead was an anesthesiologist who worked in New Zealand, Australia, Saudi Arabia, and Australia. He had a passion for anesthesia equipment and standards and made contributions to the field through his work on technical committees. He is remembered as a highly regarded teacher and loyal friend who approached his work with originality and pursued his varied interests in aviation, steam engines, and train photography until his sudden death in 2010 at the age of 74.

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    Obituary from ANZCA

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    Dr. John Irwin Newstead was an anesthesiologist who worked in New Zealand, Australia, Saudi Arabia, and Australia. He had a passion for anesthesia equipment and standards and made contributions to the field through his work on technical committees. He is remembered as a highly regarded teacher and loyal friend who approached his work with originality and pursued his varied interests in aviation, steam engines, and train photography until his sudden death in 2010 at the age of 74.

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    342 views1 page

    Obituary From ANZCA

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    Pippa Newstead
    Dr. John Irwin Newstead was an anesthesiologist who worked in New Zealand, Australia, Saudi Arabia, and Australia. He had a passion for anesthesia equipment and standards and made contributions to the field through his work on technical committees. He is remembered as a highly regarded teacher and loyal friend who approached his work with originality and pursued his varied interests in aviation, steam engines, and train photography until his sudden death in 2010 at the age of 74.

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    Obituary

    Dr John Irwin Newstead 1936 –


    2010
    In writing this appreciation of John and all that he achieved, I realise that I knew relatively little of him at a
    personal level, particularly during his earlier years. I do recall him as a final year medical student in Dunedin in
    1966. He was one of very few students who knew that he wanted to be an anaesthetist even before he started
    medical school. Perhaps this related to his work before training in medicine – unlike many
    of us at that time, he did not start his medical training for several years after leaving school.
    From his early years, John approached his work from an original and questing perspective. He would always
    tackle a problem from a different angle to most of us. He trained in anaesthesia partly in New Zealand and partly
    in Australia. A final year spent at the Royal Women’s Hospital in Melbourne with Dr Kevin McCaul was
    important in shaping his professional interests. He recalled that time with considerable affection. In 1974, he
    returned to New Zealand to take up a position as a specialist anaesthetist at Southland Hospital in Invercargill
    where he worked until 1985.
    One of John’s lasting interests was in equipment used in anaesthesia, this leading to his work on technical
    standards and as a New Zealand representative on the relevant committees of the International Standards
    Organisation. His involvement with the teaching of trainee anaesthetists lead to his appointment as a primary
    examiner in pharmacology in 1982.
    In 1985, John moved from Invercargill to Christchurch where he took up appointments to the Canterbury Area
    Health Board and the Christchurch School of Medicine. He soon became comprehensively involved as a (highly
    regarded) teacher and with matters related to equipment for the Department of Anaesthesia. At a national level, his
    expertise was acknowledged by his election to the regional committee of the (then) Faculty of Anaesthetists of the
    Royal Australasian College of Surgeons.
    John and I developed our friendship during his early years in Christchurch where he also had interests in the
    restorations of vintage aeroplanes at the Airforce Museum out at Wigram and working on the restoration of a
    steam railway engine. Of particular importance was John’s meeting
    with Jenny, then the secretary to the Department of Anaesthesia. Their marriage resulted in John having a second
    family with Sophie, 18, and Hamish, 7, becoming major influences in his life. At the time of John’s death, Jenny
    and John had spent 24 very happy years together.
    The needs of his young family were a major factor in John’s move early in 1994 to a consultant appointment at the
    King Khaled Eye Specialist Hospital in Saudi Arabia. During their time there,
    I met up with John and Jenny and Sophie in Switzerland when we were able to indulge a mutual interest in train
    photography and travel. A 15km hike over a mountain range gave both of us blisters and a chance to share many
    thoughts. John and Jenny were wonderful hosts.
    After leaving Riyadh in 1999, John and his family moved to Dubbo in NSW where he worked until bringing the
    family back to Christchurch in retirement in 2004. His health problems over his latter years did not prevent
    continuing professional associations
    in areas of interest. He had an ongoing association with Fisher and Paykel Healthcare in an advisory capacity, a
    relationship he valued enormously.
    John was a direct man who did not suffer fools gladly. He was a loyal friend to many – more outside of medicine
    than within. He was greatly impressed and grateful for the skills of those caring for him during recent major
    surgery and had seemingly made a good recovery from some daunting procedures. When I met him about three
    months before his very sudden death while working at his computer, he was looking forward keenly to some
    outcomes from his work with Fisher and Paykel. He talked proudly of Sophie’s move on from school to study law
    at Canterbury University in 2011, and about the much-loved companionship given to him by Hamish. Love and
    support for and by Jenny was also of great importance to him, as well as that of his four older children, Pippa,
    Robert, Tom and David, from his first marriage.
    John has been a great colleague to many of us who are proud to have known him. He was notable for his
    friendship, his deep knowledge of many things, his wry humour and his honesty. He will be greatly missed by
    many colleagues and by his family. His funeral had to be deferred because of the Christchurch earthquake. John
    would have found that very funny.
    Professor John M Gibbs
    Queensland
     
    ANZCA Bulletin December 2010 111

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