Dear Old Boys
With sadness we report the passing of our uncle Jan Daniel Smith on the 6th September 2019.
Jan completed his matric in 1955 at the age of 16.
He qualified as a medical doctor University of Pretoria at the age of 22 in1961.
He did his housemanship at McCord Mission Hospital in Natal.
After a stint at Addington Hospital he was accepted into an anesthesiology residency at Peter Bent Bingham Hospital Boston and received his degree from Harvard .
After further specialization in Critical Care Medicine and Pulmonology in Pittsburgh he returned to South Africa and started Internal Medicine which was completed in Pittsburgh in 1971.
From there he spent time in clinical Departments of Pulmonology, Anesthesia and Internal medicine in Iowa, San Antonio, Nebraska and Iowa before returning to Pittsburgh in 1988.
He was appointed Chief of Anesthesiology at UPMC Presbyterian a position he held until 1996 a major organ transplant center.
In this time he studied further end was awarded a Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene from the Royal College of Physicians (DTM&H) He then moved to UPMC Beaver Valley Hospital (Pittsburgh)as Medical Director and Chief Anesthesiologist.
He was instrumental during his failed retirement in setting up a major transplant and surgical center in Palermo Sicily and later served as Assistant Medical Director at Beacon Hospital in Dublin.
He returned to UPMC Pittsburgh as the Vice Chair for Clinical Operations and Professor of Anesthesiology,Internal Medicine and Critical Care Medicine in 2002.
A lecture hall is named after him.
Further achievements include appointment as Extraordinary Professor of Medicine at the University of Pretoria and Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians.
He did voluntary work in Subsaharan Africa and research on vaccines for HIV and Malaria.
Jan was an avid traveler circumnavigating the world thrice on cruise ships.
He always made time to visit his family in South Africa especially if a trip to the Kruger Park was possible.
He was a Ham Radio enthusiast contacting many South Africans with ‘hallo dis Jan van Texas ‘ which was invariably replied by a pause and then ‘haai Jan wat maak jy in Texas!’
Jan was a marvelous mentor to us and to many other Medical students and trainee doctors.
Jan is survived by our aunt Jeanette (Nettie) nee Niemeyer, children Rob,Andy and Anita and nine grandchildren and his brother Sid.
Kind regards
Mike Wilson 1979
Graeme Wilson 1987