Mr Fredy Jacob Daniel

The staff of the Austin Hospital Thoracic Surgery Unit and the wider surgical community at the Austin wish to mark the recent passing of our colleague and friend Mr Fredy Daniel.

Fredy was a skilled and accomplished Thoracic surgeon and mentor to many. For many years he provided Thoracic surgical services to patients at the PANCH, Repatriation and Austin Hospitals as well a number of Private Hospitals. His surgical interests were diverse and as well as Pulmonary and Pleural surgery he had an extensive personal experience with Oesophageal surgery for both benign and malignant disease.

He was keen to explore and develop new surgical techniques and was skilled in the application of endoscopic laser therapies. He was quick to adopt and develop the techniques of VATS surgery in addition to his profound skills as an open operator. Fredy had remarkable hands and was flexible and dextrous in a way that many of us have tried to emulate with only variable success.

Fredy was also a keen surgical educator and many of us still employ skills that we attribute to Fredy’s teaching. He was a mentor to numerous young surgeons and trainees and we remember his collegial support with great fondness.

Although Parkinson’s led to Fredy’s far too early retirement from clinical surgery his legacy lives on and we mourn his passing.