Samuel Lazarus

Samuel Lazarus (Born Glasgow, July 22, 1911. Diedin Glasgow , November 3, 1997, aged86.)

According to an obituary by Arthur Shenkin:

In addition to an outstanding career as a consultant physician and university teacher, Dr Samuel Lazarus played an important part in Glasgow Jewish communal affairs, writes Dr Arthur Shenkin. into a staunchly Zionist home — his father was a founder member of "Bnai Zion," the first Zionist society in Glasgow — he moved to Newcastle, where he was educated at the city's Royal Grammar School. He studied medicine at Glasgow University, where he gained his first degrees with commendation in 1933 and his MD with high commendation in 1937. He became a Fellow of the London, Glasgow and Edinburgh Royal Colleges of Physicians. From 1937 to 1948, he was professor of materia medica — now called pharmacology — at the then Anderson's College of Medicine. During the war years, he was also acting professor of physiology.

He kept in touch with the many American Jewish students who came to Anderson's because the US system discriminated against their entry to medical school. From 1947 to 1957, he was lecturer in materia medica at Glasgow University and then honorary lecturer. He held an honorary lectureship there in clinical medicine from 1957to 1976.He was appointed consultant physician at the Western Infirmary in1948, and at the Southern GeneralHospital in 1954, where he became one of the first consultants emeritus on his retirement. He served on the boards of management of Gartnavel Royal Hospital and the Southern General Hospital, where he also chaired the medical staff association. He examined medical students at Glasgow University and postgraduates at the Glasgow and Edinburgh Royal Colleges of Physicians.

His published papers, over 20 innumber, covered a wide range but centred on his main interest ofgastro-enterology. He researched extensively in this field, collaborating with distinguished international spe-cialists, including Dr George Baehrat New York's Mount Sinai Hospital. One paper, on "Perforated Peptic Ulcer," was based on research carried out at Tel Hashomer Hospital near Tel Aviv.

In retirement he produced "Notes on Ancient Mesopotamian Medicine — A Contribution to Medical History," based on his many years of research. The paper is deposited in Glasgow University Library.

He was a fellow of three Glasgow college libraries and of the library of the Hebrew University. Dr Lazarus served the Glasgow Jewish community for over 40 years as a member of the medical advisory board of the Jewish old age home — now Newark Lodge — and profoundly influenced its development. He gave the same long-standing service to the Society for Jewish Mentally Handicapped — now Cosgrove Care. He was honorary president of the Glasgow Friends of the Hebrew University and was active in Freemasonry as a past master of Montefiore Lodge. He was highly regarded by profes-sional and academic colleagues, as well as a wide circle of grateful patients and a large body of friends.

He is survived by his wife, Thelma, his son, John, who has followed in his footsteps as consultant physician and senior lecturer at the University College of Wales in Cardiff, two daughters and three grandchildren.