Terence Charles Morgan
Terence Charles Morgan
9 February 1943 - 17 August 2016
Urologist
Terence Charles Morgan was born in Melbourne to Patricia Ann and Eric William (Mick) Morgan on 9 February 1943. In 1951 the family moved to Hobart. Terry went to St Virgil's where he was very successful academically becoming dux of the school and head prefect 2 years in a row. He became lifelong friends with fellow students Tony Dowd, Terry Busch, Garth Cobern, Peter Shanahan and Barry Woods.
He excelled at sports representing St Virgil's in football and cross country but particularly swimming going on to win the Tasmanian backstroke championship and in 1962 he represented Tasmania in the national water polo championship.
Terry started 1st year medicine in 1961 at the University of Tasmania and went to Adelaide in 1962 for the remainder of the 6 year course. For the first couple of years of medicine in Adelaide he stayed at Aquinas College. Our medical class finishing in 1966 has remained close knit ever since and Terry was right at the centre of that camaraderie.
He was an intern at the Royal Adelaide Hospital in 1967 and came to the Royal Hobart in 1968 as an RMO in surgery.
Terry went to England in 1969 for a year and then returned to Adelaide where he did all his general surgical training gaining FRACS in general surgery in 1973. He decided to specialize in Urology and underwent this training in outstanding centres in Wellington New Zealand and at the National Urological Hospital in the UK. He returned as a Consultant Urologist to the Royal Hobart in 1977 and started private practice. He remained as a Consultant Urologist at the Royal until his retirement in 2003.
Terry had a passion for skiing and indulged that passion as often as he could. Despite his illness he was off again this year in early February skiing in Europe with long term mates Trevor Pozza, John Walker and Geoff Vercoe. Simple downhill skiing was not enough for him and he went heli-skiing on many different mountain peaks in Alaska and Canada. The Monoshees, the Selkirks, the Bugaboos in Canada were all tackled by Terry. He always wore a Scottish tartan hat with long red hair attached to it ready for whatever partying was going on.
Terry had a long term love of the Essendon football club. His dad took him when he was 7 to see the all-time great Essendon full forward John Coleman play. About 1980 Terry owned a racehorse but decided his financial future was not going to depend on the horses and he did very well subsequently managing his real estate investments. He was a most generous donor to the David Collins Foundation and the Menzies Institute for Health Research.
He was very close to his family and I know no one else who had such a vast array of friends. His mates from St Virgil's, his fellow graduates from Adelaide Medical school, his fellow skiers all remained friends for life.
He bore the illness of multiple myeloma with remarkable equanimity and forbearance. He got a myriad of side effects from the various treatments but continued with life. Skiing remained a joy, and he kept on bushwalking as well as cycling and occasionally roller blading. When looking at the impossible feat of survival he achieved in his last month the only logical explanation was that the cardio-respiratory fitness he had developed was the reason his body kept on going days and days after his time should have come.
Obituary provided by Michael Loughhead, MBBS, FRACP Cardiologist (Retired)