Prof Gary Love, who died on January 3rd aged 66, was a world-renowned expert on gastroenterology and one of the most distinguished members of the medical profession in these islands.
Whether as a doctor, administrator or academic, he excelled in his work and was widely admired for his courtesy, intellect and insight. Always notably dapper and punctilious in his appearance and approach, he was equally comfortable dealing with individual patients, committees or lecture audiences, to whom he would speak "clearly, humorously and enthusiastically", usually without the benefit of notes, according to a former student.
He could be formidable in debate or discussion, but never lost the common touch. His traditional Christmas morning round, clad as Santa Claus, before his retirement from the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast, revealed the lighter side of his character.
Colleagues admired his unflappable manner, sound advice and wise counsel and the way he always managed to preserve both his temper and dignity, whatever the provocation. However, his capacity for "floating on top of troubled water" caused some less gifted rivals to resent what appeared to be an all too easy ascent to the highest reaches of the medical profession.
Andrew Henry Garmany Love was born on September 28th, 1934, and educated at Bangor Endowed School. He went on to study science and medicine at Queen's University, Belfast, qualifying in 1958 with a rare first-class honours degree, the first of a succession of glittering prizes, scholarships and awards.
In 1961, he became a Member of the Royal College of Physicians. Two years later he completed a doctoral thesis on circulatory responses to gastrointestinal stimuli and in 1973 became a Fellow of both the British and Irish Royal Colleges of Physicians.
His first post was as a medical lecturer at Queen's, but the foundation for his international reputation was gained from periods as a research Fellow in gastroenterology at Boston City Hospital, and as a travelling fellow in gastroenterology and consultant to the US Navy Medical Research Unit, a commitment which took him to Taiwan and Pakistan to study cholera.
On his return to Queen's as senior lecturer in medicine, he also established a clinical service in his specialist subject and inaugurated a major research project at the Royal Victoria Hospital.
His growing reputation as a clinician and academic contributed to his appointment as Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Queen's in 1981, a post he held for five years, and also to the General Medical Council.
Other important appointments included the chairmanships of the Northern Ireland Postgraduate Council for Medical and Dental Education, the Review Board for Overseas Practitioners and a trusteeship and membership of the Health Promotion Research Trust at Cambridge. He was also a member of the Advisory Committee on Borderline Substances and CREST, the Clinical Resource Efficiency Support Team set up to advise doctors on the use of drugs and procedures.
Throughout his career, he remained actively involved in medical research and, with colleagues, published a stream of papers, including studies comparing esophageal mobility in response to bread swallows and water swallows and whether heartburn sufferers have a specific personality profile.
In 1995, he became the first doctor from Northern Ireland to become Censor of the Royal College of Physicians, a senior member of the body conducting the examinations regulating entry to the college. By this time he had become director of Education, Research and Development, at the Royal Group of Hospitals in Belfast, duties he combined with his ongoing work as the head of the medical faculty at Queen's.
Although he retired in 1999, he remained active in his profession and at the time of his death was working as a member of a team, chaired by Dr Maurice Hayes, reviewing acute hospital provision in the North.
Despite the demands of his medical work, Gary Love found time to golf, sail and ride. As a student he won the Irish Close Amateur Golf Championship, but was prevented from turning out for the international team by the pressure of his studies.
His outstanding service to medicine was recognised by the award of a Fellowship of the Academy of Medical Sciences and a CBE in the 1995 New Year's honours list.
He is survived by his wife Margaret (nee Lennox), whom he married in 1963, and son Tony.
Andrew Henry Garmany Love: born 1934; died, January 2001