Keith Howard Langford

Keith Howard Langford
2 October 1925 - 28 August 2015
Neurosurgeon

Keith was born in Melbourne October 2, 1925 and died in Birmingham, Alabama on August 28, 2015.

He was a man of enormous zest for life with a wide range of interests and friends that he maintained until the end which came rather suddenly when an infection supervened on top of a long battle with cancer.

Keith's education was at Melbourne Grammar then RMIT where he studied metallurgy before going into medicine which he studied at Melbourne University. As a resident at Royal Melbourne Hospital he was mentored by John Curtis (who he later joined in partnership) and encouraged to enter the field of neurosurgery with which he remained fascinated for the rest of his life.

With his wife, Dorothy, and three young children he went to the UK to complete his FRCS from 1956. Returning with now four children in 1960 he obtained his FRACS and went into practice as honorary surgeon. These were early days in the development of Melbourne neurosurgery and Keith had several honorary and visiting appointments, including Prince Henry's, Footscray, Box Hill, and the Epworth as well as consulting in Ballarat, and later taking over from John Curtis at the Royal Melbourne.

In 1974 he moved with his second wife, Marilyn, to Alabama in the USA where he served for 20 years from 1974 as a professor of neurosurgery with a particular interest in pain management. With Marilyn he had two sons.

After retiring from the University of Alabama, Birmingham, Keith continued to see patients at the Birmingham Neurosurgery & Spine Group, a private practice, up until a couple years ago. He maintained a day or two of work until earlier this year at Alabama's Disability Determination Services.

Keith had a deep fascination with people and their stories and was loved by his patients as a doctor who enjoyed listening to them so that when he stopped operating he was happy to consult with patients and work them up for partners who had been former trainees of his.

Keith was known to friends in his early days as "Tarz" for his monumental energy, playing football and cricket, tennis, golf and squash at a competitive level at school, university and beyond. He would often do rounds at several hospitals early on a Saturday with his yawning offspring in tow, then run around 18 holes at the Metropolitan Golf Course in two hours before returning to have "forty winks" (his name for a power nap) and then playing tennis or operating in the afternoon.

Keith maintained contact with family and friends in the US and Australia with regular visits to Australia and a much loved family beach house at Sorrento. He continued to be an avid reader all his life and liked nothing better than a contested debate over a glass of wine on a political or philosophical matter late into the evening. He would then be up early the next morning cooking bacon and eggs and praising the sunrise.

Keith loved dogs, music, poetry and art, travel and sport. He played golf well into his eighties. He loved his children and grandchildren who he encouraged in their pursuits and remained proud of in their various endeavours.

Keith was a brave man who stared down pain in his own life making light of his cancer and his joints which gave him great trouble. I know he would have been pleased to have passed quickly through the terminal phases of his life without giving trouble to his family.

Keith is survived by Marilyn, Justin and Amy, Craig and Jon, Clements and Ella in the US and Jonathan, Michael and Debra, Simone and Brad, Timothy and Siobhan in Australia.  He was preceded in death by his daughters Jennifer and Lynette whose tragic deaths were always a source of grief to him.

It is perplexing for us who knew him that death has taken such a man of boundless enthusiasm but he gave life his all, enjoyed and was grateful for its many wonderful blessings and endured its griefs, disappointments and pain with grace and courage.

Well done Keith, you used all that you were granted, to leave the world better for your being part of it.

Michael Langford

Keith Langford was born on 2 October 1925 in Melbourne. He attended Melbourne Grammar School and subsequently studied Medicine at the University of Melbourne. He trained in neurosurgery in Australia and obtained the FRACS in neurosurgery. He worked at Prince Henry's Hospital and the Royal Melbourne Hospital.

In 1974 he moved to Alabama, USA. For twenty years, Keith practiced neurosurgery and served as a distinguished professor at the University of Alabama Medical School, where he helped to establish the Pain Center. Although Keith retired from UAB in 1994, he continued to work in the field of medicine for two decades. Most recently, Keith worked for Alabama's Disability Determination Services.

Keith enjoyed gardening, poetry, art, travel, his dogs, golf, and a good bottle of wine. An avid reader, he did not shy away from political conversation and debate, and he approached life with intellectual curiosity and good humour.

Although he played Australian Rules Football for Melbourne University, Keith adopted the Crimson Tide (the UAB team) as his home team when he moved to the US.

He was beloved by many, including countless patients he helped throughout his career. Most of all, Keith loved his family. He is survived by his second wife Marilyn, sons Michael, Jonathan, Justin, and Craig, and their partners Debbie, Amy and Jon. He leaves behind four grandchildren - Simone, Timothy, Clements and Ella.

He was preceded in death by two daughters, Lynette and Jennifer.

Glenn McCulloch FRACS

Compiled from an obituary published in The Birmingham News, September 1, 2015