Obituary: Dr Ian Valentine Lishman

Obituary

Dr Ian Valentine Lishman

Born: February 14, 1930 Died: April 21, 2016

The South West community has lost a man who changed the face of Bunbury with his pioneering nature and hard work.

Dr Ian Valentine Lishman died on April 21 at a Bethanie aged care facility at the age of 86.

A funeral service to honour his life will be held at St Boniface Cathedral tomorrow at 11am.

In 1965 Dr Lishman was the first specialist surgeon to work outside of Perth in WA when he moved from the UK to Bunbury with his wife Jean.

Dr Lishman's sense of adventure led him to treat people in South Vietnam and Nepal and he even spent 18 months in Antarctica.

The Val Lishman Health Research Foundation was named in his honour in 1997 when he retired.

He became a Member of the Order of Australia for his service to medicine in 1992 and in 2010 he was named the Australian Medical Association WA Doctor of the Year.

Dr Graham Fisher worked with Dr Lishman for 20 years at his surgical practice after moving from South Africa to Bunbury in 1977.

"He was always a kind man, he was never arrogant and he never got irritated," Dr Fisher said.

"He didn't just treat diseases, he helped the person too and he was a generous man."

Dr Fisher said his colleague had an amazing work ethic and a thirst for knowledge with the biggest library he had seen.

"He worked as a solo surgeon for 12 years, being on call for 24 hours a day and visiting all the hospitals around the South West," he said.

"When I joined him, we split the work into two but I had never done so much work in my life."

Val Lishman Health Research Foundation secretary and Bunbury Cathedral Grammar School archivist Margaret Paterson said Dr Lishman was instrumental in setting up the school, which opened in 1972.

"He was one of the most significant founders of the school alongside Bishop Ralph Hawkins," she said.

"He was on the board of governors for more than 20 years, including the role of chairman and he had a lot do with the ethics and fundamentals of the school."

Mrs Paterson said his impact on the school was still being felt with the school's library named after his family and a relay race held each year around the school campus called the Lishman Lap of Valour.

Val Lishman Health Research Foundation executive officer Jackie Ross said she first met Dr Lishman in 1994 when she started teaching at the Bunbury Cathedral Grammar School and found him to be a humble person.

"When I found about his history it really inspired me because he changed the face of Bunbury and he was a legend," she said.