JOSEPH LAFFAN:DR JOSEPH LAFFAN, who has died aged 92, was a former director of the Army Medical Corps. Having retired from the Defence Forces in 1982, he resumed his medical career in the 1990s, working with the Irish Aviation Authority.
Born in Brisbane in 1917, he was the eldest of five children of William and Helena Laffan. His parents met on an emigrant ship and married later in Australia. The family moved from town to town, and in 1933 decided to make their life in Ireland.
The family settled in Dublin where he studied medicine at UCD and joined the Army reserve.
After the fall of France, in June 1940, he was summoned to active military service. He served for many years as deputy director of the Medical Corps, after which he became director. He was one of two officers sent to the Congo in 1960 in advance of the Irish UN battalions that followed.
For decades he was director of the St Bricin’s hospital laboratory. Having developed an expertise in aviation medicine, and carried out the medical examinations of all Irish pilots, whether private, commercial or in the Air Corps. This led to his representing Ireland at many international conferences.
When he retired from the Army he held the rank of colonel. He subsequently worked as aeromedical officer at the Aviation Authority, finally retiring in 2004.
From an early age he was fascinated by the prospect, and later the reality, of space exploration. For years, under a nom de plume, he wrote a newspaper column about astronomy.
He liked to travel, and in his eighties he and his wife Maura enjoyed visits to the Arctic Circle, Black Sea and battlefields of the first World War.
By far the most important of his commitments was to God and the Catholic Church. A daily Mass-goer, he also said the rosary nightly.
A devoted family man, he was widely respected, did much good by stealth and was never heard to say a bad word about anyone.
In 2001 he received the Fitzmaurice Award in recognition of his services to Irish aviation.
He married Maureen O’Gorman in 1943, who predeceased him in 1979. His wife Maura (née MacDonagh), sons Michael and David, daughter Elizabeth, daughter-in-law Angela and grandchildren Robert, Jack and Bill survive him.
Joseph Laffan: born February 18th, 1917; died September 1st, 2009