Llewellyn Bryan Cosmo Lewis

Is it possible for a classics scholar to simultaneously attempt to study for degrees in medicine and dentistry and pick up an honours BSc en route? The answer is 'No!' - unless your name happens to be 'Bryan Lewis'. To then go on to gain the Diploma in Anaesthetics from the Royal College of Surgeons of England, the primary FDS, work as a hospital anaesthetist through the night and in a dental clinic during the day, then your name could only be Bryan Lewis! Bryan's unique history gives a measure of both the intellect and energy of the man.

He was born in Birmingham to an Italian mother and an English father who was a schoolmaster. As a young boy he was evacuated to the West Country for part of WWII and this was the start of his lifelong love of Cornwall.

Bryan graduated in dentistry in 1958 and then went on to complete his medical training, which he described as easy compared with the exacting precision required in dentistry.

As a young house surgeon at Dudley Road Hospital, Birmingham, he met and married a senior nurse called Colleen Brewster. It was a turning point in Bryan's life. He set aside his academic career, temporarily, or so he thought, and set up a dental practice in Northfield. His specialist training in anaesthetics was not wasted. He gave anaesthetics for about ten other dentists in the Birmingham area. He also set up another practice in West Bromwich.

But his beloved Cornwall beckoned. Bryan spent ten years of his working life in practice in Penzance. Here he was also able to indulge his lifelong hobbies of bird watching and sailing.

He was never to return to academic dentistry. Life with Colleen, their two daughters, a son and nine grandchildren fulfilled all that he desired in life.

It was characteristic of Bryan to cope with the cruelness of his final illness with great courage and pragmatism. He said he felt he had been so lucky in all that had happened in his life that it was too much to expect his luck would last forever.