Obituaries

Our beloved colleague Professor Emeritus Edvitar Leibur passed away on 24th of July 2024. Born on the 4th of Sept 1937 she made a major contribution to temporomandibular surgery in Estonia, including the introduction of arthrocentesis and arthroscopy. Professor Leibur was also a teacher and mentor for many stomatology students and maxillofacial surgery trainees. She had many publications and supervised dissertations. She had been Vice Dean for Research and Vice Dean for Studies at the University of Tartu. Dr Leibur was the Estonian Councillor of EACMFS in 1996-2005 and a member of Editorial Board of the Journal of Cranio-Maxillofacial Surgery. She was truly dedicated to her profession – even in her later days she was very often in her office attending to administrative work for scientific journals.

Professor Edvitar Leibur will always be remembered and loved by her colleagues; she was a great inspiration to us all.

Ian Martin was born in Manchester on 19th May 1957. He was initially educated at the county primary school, then falling back on his musical talents and successfully auditioned for the Manchester Cathedral Choir where he gained entry to Chetham’s School of Music. Originally planning a musical career, visits to the local dentist ignited a medical career and saw Ian successfully gain entry to King’s College in London to study Dentistry for what was to be his first degree. Whilst at King’s, he joined the University Air Squadron to be taught flying by the RAF and fully embraced the amateur dramatic society. As an undergraduate, he was awarded the Wallace prize and went on to present his work on halothane scavenging at the British Dental Association Centenary Meeting, and in turn at the American Dental Association in New Orleans. Inspired by the opportunities, a career in Maxillofacial Surgery offered, he embarked on a second degree at Kings in Medicine. As Senior Scholar at medical school, Ian’s career flourished culminating in an honour’s degree in 1986. Upon qualifying he moved to the South West for both his first medical post and a two-year surgical rotation. While working in Plymouth, Ian met Diane who was then working as an associate in a local dental practice. They married in 1989 and their daughter Katherine was born in 1990.

Completing his surgical rotation on the South Coast to become a fellow of the RCS England, a post as General Surgery Registrar in Newcastle opened his eyes to the beauty and charm of the North East of England before a move to Merseyside back to the specialty to complete higher surgical training. Working under David Vaughan who he had first met at King’s, David was one of the few Maxillofacial Surgeons at the time conducting microvascular surgery. The skills acquired in Liverpool were the foundation for a Senior Registrar post in East Grinstead to complete his Maxillofacial Training. In 1993 he was appointed as a Consultant in Sunderland where he remained until his retirement in 2019.

Following his appointment as a Consultant, it is difficult to know how an individual could have made a greater impact on our specialty locally, nationally or internationally. The unit in Sunderland had already been the home to several luminaries of the specialty, however it flourished with Ian’s arrival and a firm belief in training. His clinical skills were focussed, evidence-based, practised with a rigour and complemented operative skills second to none; with Ian’s ability to pass all these qualities on to his trainees, Sunderland was quickly established as a Mecca for training in a unit that would make you happy to entrust any member of your family to his care. His RAF training meant trainees would be subjected to regular flight checks whilst operating, not limited to the operating microscope. Training under Ian’s wing covered much more than surgery and included a musical education thanks to Classic FM during major cases and culinary appreciation courtesy of Ian and Diane’s frequent and generous hospitality at their home in Whickham.

Ian expanded the unit in Sunderland from two consultants to six, reflecting the depth, breadth and success of the department. He was appointed as a Senior Lecturer in Newcastle in 1997 and studied for a Law Degree in Cardiff. Ian was initially lead clinician for head and neck cancer. He then took up the role of Clinical Director, where he led the Head and Neck directorate from strength to strength, completing his time in Sunderland as Medical Director.

On the national and international stage Ian made significant contributions to our specialty in his roles as chairman of the SAC and of BAOMS Council. He was elected President of EACMFS and BAOMS, culminating in very successful meetings in London in 2016 and Durham in 2018 respectively. With a legal background, his greatest attribute is arguably the singularly compelling manner in which he has represented the specialty so eloquently in the wider field of surgery; President of FSSA, President of BAHNO and lead Clinical Coordinator and ultimately Trustee of NCEPOD to name but a few. His career long endeavours to drive the specialty and standards forward were recognised in 2002 with the BAOMS Surgery Prize and 2011 with the Down Prize, the highest honour BAOMS can bestow on a fellow of the association. The culmination of this pursuit of excellence is manifest in the use of his presidential fund to initiate the BAOMS QOMS project. The vision of the centralised collection of high-quality data from every unit is well on the way to realisation. The value of this initiative recognised by the association with a Life Honorary Fellowship of BAOMS awarded in 2024.

Despite this extensive list of professional roles and accolades, Ian had an enviable ability to enjoy a life outside work. Whilst on the South Coast he acquired a Master Mariners Certificate and the move to the North East allowed him to once again pursue his love of flying as a part-time flying instructor out of Newcastle Airport. Not content with simply instructing, he also became a CAA flight examiner as well as being an Honorary Air Commodore and Civilian Consultant to the RAF. All these activities were interlaced with a love of fine food, fine wine, and his lifelong passion for classical music.

A husband and father, surgeon, clinician, trainer, negotiator, manager, leader, and ambassador of the specialty, Ian has left an indelible mark on all those who knew him and the specialty he dedicated his life too. Ian passed away on the 24th May 2024 age 67. He leaves his wife Diane and daughter Katherine.

This typically surgical expression fits professor dr. Peter Egyedi, who sadly passed away on October the 3rd 2023, 92 years of age.

Peter was born on December 8th 1930. After difficult years in the second world war, he was trained both in dentistry and medicine. Following an initial education in general surgery, he started a training in cranio-maxillofacial surgery in Zürich, Switzerland under Prof. Hugo Obwegeser in 1962.

After some years in Liberia, Sydney and again in Zürich, he returned to The Netherlands to become head of the Department of Maxillofacial surgery at the University Hospital Utrecht from 1973 to 1985 and later again from 1992 to 1996. There he proved an excellent clinician and teacher who treated many cleft patients, introduced the orthognathic surgery and the comprehensive surgical treatment of maxillofacial oncology patients. He was the first to describe the application of “the buccal fat pad” in closure of the maxillary sinus and discussed the technique of the “degloving of the nose” for difficult cleft noses. He was member of the editorial board of the Journal of Cranio-Maxillofacial Surgery for many years, writer of multiple scientific articles and promotor of several dissertations.

In the 70’s and 80’s he was ahead of time in discussing medical complications. These were held once a year in January at the Department in Utrecht and attracted many colleagues. Members of staff and trainees were stimulated to present and discuss their biggest failures of the year, stimulated by Peter himself who kept up a diary on his own complications during his whole working life. Trainees and staff were advised to keep up such a diary by themselves as well and to read over it regularly. He disliked medical protocols and rather encouraged his trainees and staff to analyse maxillofacial cases and its appropriate treatment themselves.

We will remember Peter for his knowledge, creativeness, witticisms and even more for his modesty and the opportunities he created for his staff and trainees to experiment and learn new techniques. If something went wrong, he was always there to protect and help his colleagues. That is how many of us were stimulated and felt supported by him and could learn from our mistakes. Under Peter, in all 21 maxillofacial surgeons were trained.

With this in mind, we truly can call Peter Egyedi a giant on whose shoulders we cranio-maxillofacial surgeons all stand.

Robert van Es
Councillor of The Netherlands