Page 33 - RCPA

Obituaries
Prof David Albert Cooper, AO
Late of NSW 1949 – 2018
Immunopathologist who received an AO in 2003 and a posthumous AC in 2018 for eminent service to medicine, particularly in the area of HIV/AIDS research, as a clinician, scientist and administrator, to the development of treatment therapies, and to health programs in South East Asia and the Paci c. David Cooper was a graduate of the University of Sydney (1969) he studied immunology at the University of NSW before going to the University of Arizona Medical Centre as a research fellow and after returning to Sydney then went on to Boston, Massachusetts where he continued his studies at the time that HIV/AIDS was emerging in the USA. He gained FRCPA in 1978 and together with Prof Ron Penny he diagnosed the rst HIV case in Australia (1982). He became director in 1983 of what is now known as the Kirby Institute and remained in the role until his death in 2018. In 1991, he was named chair of the WHO Global Program on AIDS Committee on Clinical Research and Drug Development, and in 1994, was awarded a Doctor of Science and made a full professor by NSW. Elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science he received many other awards. David passed away after a short illness in March 2018.
Dr Willem Gysbert Rudolf Marie De Boer (Bill)
Late of Tasmania 1924 - 2017
Born in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, Bill received his medical and pathology training at Gronigen University in the Netherlands. He migrated to Australia in 1964 to take up a senior lecturer position in Pathology at Monash University and was admitted to The College of Pathologists of Australia in 1967. In 1970
he moved to Perth for 5 years, primarily at Hollywood Repatriation Hospital, before returning to Melbourne in 1975 to take up the HOD position at Royal Southern Memorial Hospital. After resigning in 1983 he spent the next 20 years working in various laboratories in Queensland, Victoria, WA and NSW, nally retiring in Taree NSW in 2002 at the age of 78. He spent his last years, rst in Bunbury WA and then to be closer to family in Launceston Tasmania where he passed away in November 2017. He had two wives and 11 children and lived to see 24 grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren. His son Bastiaan, holds FRCPA and is an Anatomical Pathologist in Perth, WA.
Prof Derek Nigel John Hart
Late of NSW 1952 – 2017
While undertaking PhD studies Derek Hart discovered the dendritic cell and its importance in immunology. Returning to New Zealand in 1981, he completed his training as a Laboratory and Clinical Haematologist receiving RCPA Fellowship in 1985. Continuing his strong interest in medical research, he created an internationally recognised research laboratory which produced the crucial monoclonal antibodies enabling the rst blood dendritic cell counting method to be developed, as well as providing the fundamental evidence from studying cancers to justify a clinical dendritic cell cancer vaccination program. From his roles at University of Otago and Canterbury Health he achieved
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ANNUAL REPORT • 2017 - 2018