Edward Marzec
Edward Marzec
Ear, Nose and Throat Surgeon
27 November 1948 - 23 November 2017
Edward Marzec was the eldest of three children, born 27 November 1948 in Germany where his parents had been taken as forced labour during the war. His father, a captured Polish soldier and his mother, who was taken from a Russian orphanage, met when working on adjacent farms. Ed was born while they were waiting to be relocated to a new country. He was just 14 months old when the little family arrived in Melbourne on the SS Goya in 1950 with nothing to their name, no English language, trade or skills, and lived in a very frugal manner initially in a tent on a block of land at Royal Park on which Ed's father gradually built a house room by room. No doubt his parents' example was a factor in the development of Ed's prodigious work ethic.
Ed started school with minimal English but like many migrant children, once he acquired the language he became the interpreter for his parents.
Ed's parents instilled in him a strong lifelong Christian faith and were very involved with the church where he and his sister used to perform, Ed with his banjo and Barbara, who had a fine voice, with the piano accordion.
It is said that the first inklings of a future in ENT came from a teacher at Woodville High School who suggested that this might suit him. During Ed's medical student years his mother was very unwell and Ed and his sister Barbara had to help care for their much younger sister Mary as well as working part-time and in the holidays to help with family expenses.
After graduating in Medicine in Adelaide in 1972, Ed undertook three years of RMO rotations at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, and having passed his primary surgical examination in 1974 he spent a year as surgical registrar at the Daws Road Repatriation Hospital, where he had his first taste of ENT. Subsequently he entered the South Australia ENT training scheme with postings to the Royal Adelaide Hospital, Queen Elizabeth Hospital and the Adelaide Children's Hospital. His RACS Fellowship examination was passed in 1980 while a registrar at the Flinders Medical Centre MC with Dean Beaumont. He then travelled overseas and was especially impressed with the work of Dr Tom Upchurch in Tennessee, USA.
Ed entered private practice with particular interests in paediatric ENT, otology and rhinology and commenced a 30 year association with the Adelaide Children's Hospital. With David Close he bought David Tonkin's old rooms in Melbourne Street and they practised there independently for eight years before Ed decided he wanted to demolish and rebuild.
There was clearly a need for ENT services in the Adelaide northern suburbs and a weekly consulting session in Salisbury soon became insufficient. With paediatrician Judy Jaensch he bought and established rooms in Ann Street, Salisbury. With his warm manner it was evident to his patients even if time was sometimes short that Ed had a real interest in their welfare, particularly his northern cohort to whom he often became a friend as well as a personal specialist. He was adept at honing in on psycho-social issues causing symptoms and providing firm reassurance and was always prepared to see urgent add-on cases. Four of his staff were with him for over 30 years and they would have wine and nibbles after work on Fridays and regular weekend bonding brunches.
When he was eventually compelled to dramatically reduce his workload because of illness, Edward was pleased to be able to find young surgeons to continue his Salisbury and North Adelaide ENT practices as he felt a great responsibility to his patients and referring doctors, particularly in the northern suburbs.
At the Lyell McEwen Hospital in Elizabeth, Edward carried out public surgery, being essentially the sole ENT surgeon doing so, for around 20 years. He also provided a visiting service to Loxton and carried out monthly surgery at Naracoorte for the local doctor who had an interest in ENT, both over a long period. For a shorter time he visited Roxby Downs
As consultant at the Adelaide Children's Hospital and its successor the Women's and Children's Hospital, Edward supervised and taught many Trainee doctors. Even in his registrar days he was known for his tremendous enthusiasm for ENT and his inspirational influence is known to have drawn younger colleagues into the specialty. He was Head of Unit from 2007 to 2012.
Edward served as treasurer, committeeman, vice-chairman and in 2003-4 chairman of the SA Section of the Australian Society of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery.
With his first wife Lila, Edward had four adored children, Sarah, Peter, David and Deborah, to whom he always gave great support. Ed's life subsequently with Leanne lasting 17 years was a loving and happy one and Ed was like a father to Lea's daughter Emma.
Apart from his very busy ENT practice, Edward embarked on other ambitious projects with typical fervour. A great passion was his Santa Gertrudis cattle stud on Hindmarsh Island, Ed delighting in trips interstate to buy bulls and competing successfully at the Royal Adelaide Show with the children helping.
Edward's illness was long and difficult and the need to slow down very much against his nature. Yet he was always outwardly cheerful and uncomplaining. Despite long hours of dialysis for more than six years and then multi-system disease which forced him to cease clinical practice in 2014, Ed retained a keen interest in his profession, with medicolegal cases booked beyond his final illness.
The end came suddenly over a few days with Leanne by his side and his family close by, just four days short of his sixty-ninth birthday.
Comments from the colleagues with whom he worked include:
"We were amazed by his energy and workload, behind which was a driving desire to improve the quality of lives he crossed."
"Ed was a true larger-than-life character. He was such a pleasure to be around: always a joke, always a funny story - but behind it all a very astute mind. As someone who worked with him for many years at the Women's and Children's Hospital, I count myself lucky to have crossed his orbit."
Written by David Close, with the help from Leanne Collie.