Anthony Peter Tynan
Anthony (Tony) Peter Tynan
Urologist
23 March 1940 - 21 November 2016
Tony was the fourth child in a family of five of Patrick and Madeline Tynan, an Irish Catholic working class family living in Kogarah. He was educated locally first at St Patrick's and then at Marist Brothers High School
He was a good student and always dreamed of becoming a doctor. His Dad, a truck driver for Tooth's Brewery could not afford the University fees but was fortunate to obtain a Commonwealth Scholarship and entered the faculty of medicine at Sydney University in 1957. He was the first person in his family to go to University. He was conscientious student and even got through 4th year despite his Mother's passing after a motor vehicle accident.
He was a student at St Vincent's Hospital but was appointed a Junior Resident Medical Officer at the Mater Hospital. To supplement his income he did GP locums and a stint with the Royal Flying Doctor Service during his senior year. It was at the Mater that he met Margaret O'Grady (Maggie), who he married and promptly left for England. He obtained both the Edinburg and English Fellowships of the College of Surgeons and worked as a Surgical Registrar in Birmingham. In 1968 he returned to Australia working his way as a ship's surgeon with Maggie and their two children, Damien and Cait, and took umbrage at the fact that most of the passengers were "Ten Pound Poms". Back in Australia he obtained his Fellowship with the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons.
In 1969 he embarked on his Urological career by obtaining a Fellowship in Urology with Professor Joe Murnaghan. A firm friendship was cemented between Joe and Tony, in fact Tony was the only person who could call him Joe as he was a stickler for formality. He was made Senior Lecturer in Surgery for the University of New South Wales. The babies kept arriving so he had to supplement his small salary by doing lots of GP locums on the North Shore and in the West. In his "spare" time he joined the RAAF Reserve with the rank of Flight Lieutenant. However, after three years he resigned his commission because of the pressures of work.
Joe encouraged Tony to consider pursuing an academic career but he chose to take an appointment as a Visiting Medical Officer at St George and Sutherland Hospitals. He soon set up a thriving practice in the Sutherland Shire and worked closely with Ted Korbel and later Gerry Testa. Together with Maggie they had six children under the age of 9 - Damien (Ticka), Cait, Jacinta, Rowena (Ro), Justin and Alexandra (Bubs). His marriage to Maggie ended after 23 years. Later, he met Peta and subsequently they married.
He served with the Urological Society as Chairman of ANZAUS in 1980-81 and was President of the NSW Section in 1989.
Tony helped mentor many trainees, never afraid to stir on their behalf and had the reputation of being very fair as an Examiner for the College of Surgeons.
There were countless Urological dinners where Tony and Michael Rosen would trade jokes having the table in stitches. People would be leaving, the tables would be cleared except for the red wine, Michael would be out of breath, but still there was time for one more story.
He loved his sail boat he had in Port Hacking. He successfully sailed up to Sydney many times despite just an occasional altercation between navigator and skipper. He and Peta were inveterate travellers. Their map of Australia documenting their travels was almost obliterated by lines resembling the scribbling of a child.
In later life most people have a 'sea change', not so for Peta and Tony. They opted for the land and moved north to Gloucester. Tony worked for a short time in Taree but settled down as a farmer and got on well with the locals. Unfortunately with his increasing disability due to motor neurone disease a heavy load fell on Peta's shoulders. Tony was fortunate to have someone as strong and capable as Peta to look after him during this difficult time of his life.
Tony was a loving and proud father to his six children, his three step children and grandfather to 16 grandchildren and 5 step grandchildren.
Ted Korbel summed him up as a "careful, thoughtful colleague, a teacher and cheerful friend, a profound thinker and astute clinician and a larger than life colourful character, a real Australian larrikin".
This obituary was kindly provided by David Golovsky FRACS