John Playfair obituary

After qualifying as a physician, John Playfair branched out into investigation on cancer and tropical medication

My father, Professor John Playfair, who has died aged 82, spent most of his doing work life as a lecturer and professor of immunology at the Middlesex hospital (later on University School hospital), the place he researched the immunology of tropical conditions including malaria. His textbooks Immunology at a Glance (1979), Infection and Immunity (1994, with Greg Bancroft) and Living With Germs (2004) are even now in use.

The son of Main Common Ian Playfair and Jocelyn (nee Malan), a novelist, John was of Scottish and French Huguenot ancestry. He was educated at Cheltenham school and studied medicine at Pembroke School, Cambridge. Right after qualifying as a medical doctor at King’s University hospital, London, in the 1950s, John worked briefly at the Marsden and Brompton hospitals and then branched out into analysis on cancer and tropical medication. He married Line Mariani in 1959 and shared a lifelong enjoy of her native Corsica, spending several happy holidays there.

He invested three years in the early 1960s at the University of California, Berkeley, and also travelled extensively with the Planet Health Organisation he visited hospitals and laboratories, and was in wonderful demand as a lecturer and external examiner.

He also wrote fiction, and his 3 early novels, Pursued by a Bear (1958), Andiamo! (1959) and The Dying Artwork (1960) were effectively received he later on wrote a number of crime novels, which will be published online. He was also a talented painter and draughtsman.

Throughout his lifestyle he played and studied the clarinet, collecting and restoring antique French clarinets and designing enhancements to the instrument, such as new keys and bore sizes. He loved playing every single member of the clarinet family and organized chamber music for a variety of wind ensembles. He wrote routinely for the magazine of the Clarinet and Saxophone Society. A lot of of his rare clarinets have been donated to the Sir Nicholas Shackleton assortment of historical instruments at Edinburgh University.

My father’s excellent sense of humour and broad assortment of interests brought him a broad circle of pals. He loved to read through, typically with a glass of pastis in hand, and he was searching forward to the arrival of his 1st wonderful-grandchild. We are planning a “clarinet fest” up coming yr for all his pals to celebrate a life complete of passion and harmony.

He is survived by Line, two children, Miranda and me, four grandchildren, Robert, Catherine, Sarah and Alice, and his brother, Man. John donated his entire body to health care analysis and asked that his ashes be scattered close to the Sanguinaires islands off Ajaccio, Corsica.

John Playfair obituary