Dr Bruce Alexander Murison Smith 12 February 1933 – 23 February 2026
MB ChB Leeds 1956, DCH London 1959, DRCOG London 1960, MRCP Edinburgh 1962, FRCP Edinburgh 1978, FRCPCH 1996
He taught many young doctors not only what to do, but how to be.
Bruce was born in Leeds where his Scottish father was a GP. His father’s surgery was attached to the family home, so the young Bruce observed medicine at first hand. He remembered one patient dropping dead as he crossed the threshold and his mother being unable to close the door.
He was six when World War II started. His father’s partner was sent to war, but his wife got cancer, so Bruce’s father offered to go to war in his place. His father won the Croix de Guerre for delivering French babies in a minefield. Surely this sense of sacrifice, service and caring must have played their part in the doctor Bruce became.
He attended Fulneck School in Pudsey, where he was Head Boy, cricket captain and met Ruth aged 13. He subsequently secured a place to study medicine at Leeds University, aged 17. He played hockey for Leeds University, at county level and had a trial for Scotland.
He graduated in 1956 and had great stories about being a junior doctor in Leeds. For example, one day his consultant told a group of them to get into his Rolls Royce (!) they were going to Headingley to watch the cricket, rather than do the ward round. They protested they hadn’t got tickets, only to be told it would be fine he had just operated on the groundsman’s hernia. They enjoyed a day’s cricket!
He was well read and enjoyed a range of activities... he enjoyed company... he maintained the discipline of exercise throughout his life
He held a house appointment in Wakefield, married Ruth in 1957, then did two years of National Service in Colchester. He wasn’t allowed to go to his next army placement, because he was needed to play hockey for the regiment, in order that they might win a highly contested inter-regimental cup. He then worked in Edinburgh, Peterborough and Sheffield.
For a year he was a Chief Resident in Paediatrics at the Metropolitan General Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. The family sailed there on the Queen Mary and were there at an interesting time: 1963, when John F. Kennedy, Jr. was assassinated.
On returning to the UK he was made Senior Registrar at Sheffield Children’s Hospital before being appointed Consultant Paediatrician at Sheffield Northern General Hospital - the first to make consultant in his university year, aged 33. He became a Clinical Lecturer at the Department of Paediatrics at Sheffield University in 1966. He appeared on a BBC Horizon programme on breast feeding in the 1970s.
Bruce retired in 1993. Sadly, Ruth died of ovarian cancer in 2001. He was well read and enjoyed a range of activities, such as church bereavement visiting and acting out Bible stories in the local primary school. He enjoyed company, for example regular lunches with a group of old colleagues affectionately called the Old Gits! He maintained the discipline of exercise throughout his life. Until lockdown he swam 40 lengths each day and at 85 could still swim a length under water. He walked a mile a day until the week he died, aged 93.
He ran the Special Care Baby Unit in Sheffield. Three of his grandchildren needed special care after his retirement – one in Sheffield. There is little debate that his intervention in 1997 saved his last grandson’s life, his mother’s undetected anti-Kidd and anti-Kell antibodies causing severe problems.
His thanksgiving service was full and attended by many younger doctors. A common view expressed was:
He was very thoughtful and a very good paediatrician. I enjoyed working for him. He was very professional. When he came to the hospital, even at 3am, he always wore a jacket and a tie and brought a sense of calm and expertise. I learned a lot from him.
He always offered wise advice, valued friendship, was reliable, generous, tackled life’s challenges with grace, humour, faith and integrity.
He wrote:
No couple can have been closer, loved each other more and been so fortunate in our children, grandchildren and all that we were able to share, small day to day things, wonderful holidays and so much more - so many wonderful memories. Great happiness.
He is survived by his two children, Fiona and Alastair, five grandchildren and one great grandson.
Written by Fiona Walton