PROFESSOR John B. Fleming, who died in his eighties on January 28th, was of a generation of medical practitioners who clearly saw their role in the Hippocratic tradition as being expert in their specialties, committed to the care of their patients and conscious of their duty to pass on the fruits of their knowledge and experience to those that followed them in their profession. These high ideals underpinned Professor Fleming's professional life.
John Fleming trained in his speciality under Professor A. H. (Drew) Davidson, and was his Assistant Master at the Rotunda from 1937-39, in that period he met and married Jay, a Glasgow graduate who was appointed the first specialist anaesthetist at the Rotunda. As was the practice at that time, after completion of his Assistant Mastership he entered private practice as an obstetrician gynaecologist. In 1943 he was appointed gynaecologist to the Adelaide hospital, a post which he retained until his retirement. He was respected and well liked there as an excellent gynaecologist, and a kindly person who gave liberally of his time and attention to the concern of his patients.
As regards his commitment to teaching, John Fleming was Lecturer in Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Trinity College Dublin under the Professorship of O'Donel Browne. He will be remembered by many generations of Trinity graduates for his obstetrical demonstrations given to small groups of students at 8.30 a.m. in the old medical school building in the college. These intimate teaching sessions given by such a likeable person caught the attention of many students, some of whom found in them the inspiration for their own professional lives.
Professor O'Donel Browne died in 1952, and J. B. Fleming was appointed as his successor later that year. In those times professors in the UK and elsewhere had hospital appointments together with substantial staff and clinical research facilities provided by universities. J. 13. Fleming had no such facilities, and with the passage of time this put strains on the quality of medical education in obstetrics and gynaecology offered at Trinity as compared with elsewhere. Eventually consultations - were instituted between the authorities in the Rotunda and Trinity College, as the result of which a professorial unit was established for J. B. Fleming at the Rotunda in 1967. He then became a whole time professor and headed a clinical team responsible to the Master for the care of about one third of the patients attending the Rotunda. He retained his position as gynaecologist at the Adelaide.
These changes greatly improved the educational status of obstetrics and gynaecology at Trinity College, and laid foundations for the professorial research unit subsequently set up at the Rotunda by John Bonnar, who succeeded John Fleming as professor in 1975. It was a sadness for his friends and colleagues that a year or so before his time for retirement John Fleming suffered an illness which although it was thought to be a minor problem at the time, subsequently affected his health and self confidence to the extent that he was relieved to retire in 1974.
John Fleming's publications as professor were mainly devoted to studies on historical aspects of his speciality. They bear all the marks of painstaking and careful scholarship which ensure their durability. He was of a generation that received little or no opportunity for experience of working in the field of medical research. For him, the example of professional excellence and the conduct of personal teaching, often on a one to one basis, were his priorities as professor. They served him well, and he was as much respected for them as he was liked for his kindly personality and his devotion to the highest ideals of his profession.