My lifelong friend Jonathan Marrow, who has died aged 75, was a dedicated doctor in emergency medicine who worked in Africa and later took an important role in training A&E doctors in the UK.
Jonathan was born in Watford during an air raid. His parents, Norman and Margaret (nee Hyatt), were both teachers, active Quakers, humanitarians and pacifists. Their compassion for others shaped the direction of Jonathan’s life. It was this idealism that tipped him in favour of medicine, with a particular desire to work in Africa.
After attending Watford grammar school, in 1963 Jonathan went to study at University College London medical school. In 1967, during his time at UCL, he married Angela Mahler, whom he had met a decade earlier.
After qualifying in 1968, he took up a post as a junior doctor in Tunbridge Wells, Kent – and then, in 1970, realised his dream of practising medicine in Africa when he became a government medical officer in Serowe, Botswana.
In 1972 Jonathan and his family (by then, he and Angela had three children) returned to England, and he took up his first A&E position, in surgical training at Hull Royal Infirmary. After Angela’s untimely death in 1976, he met and married Clari (nee Badzire), a widow with two children, and the two families merged.
In 1980 Jonathan secured the post of consultant in accident and emergency medicine on the Wirral, where he was involved in designing the layout of the A&E department at the newly opened Arrowe Park hospital in Birkenhead. He remained there, as a consultant and a clinical director in emergency medicine, until his retirement in 2006.
Jonathan was also active on a national level, taking on various roles within the British Association for Accident and Emergency Medicine and later at the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, where he served as vice-president (2006-08). Formerly the College of Emergency Medicine, the association gained its royal charter in 2008, making Jonathan a founding fellow.
He had always been passionate about supporting others with their careers. After his retirement, he took the chair of the A&E training committee, with responsibility for the coordination of training and supervision for future specialists in A&E medicine across the UK and Ireland. He remained active as a consultant in emergency medicine until his death.
Jonathan moved to Cheshire after leaving his role on the Wirral, and – in between his continuing medical commitments – gave talks locally about historical disasters. He was a hugely loving person: wise, caring, compassionate and inspirational.
He is survived by Clari, his five children, seven grandchildren and sister, Bridget.
