Oration Delivered by Prof. Jannie Louw at the Memorial Service For 
Professor B. Bromilow-Downing

Friends, allow m e a few m inutes to  pay trib u te on 
b eh alf of all o f us to  a greatly respected friend and 
colleague and one of South A fric a ’s m ost distinguished 
medical m en —  Professor B rom ilow -D ow ning —  Brom 
as he was fondly know n by everybody. H e occupied with 
distinction the posts o f D ean o f the M ed ica l F aculty and 
Professor o f M edical E ducation at th e U niversity of 
C ape Tow n for 20 years —  from  1958 to  1977.

A nd firstly, I w ould like to  say how fo rtu n ate we were 
to  have had as o u r leader —  often in difficult tim es —  
a m an o f such high principles and absolute integrity. 
H is strict selection o f m edical students according to the 
rules, his respect for protocol, his trem endous e ffo rts 
at gaining b eter recognition and im proved status for 
the professions allied to  m edicine (form erly know n as 
param edicals), his concern fo r all students, and his wise 
counsel to, and co-operation with coleagues are rem em - 

^  bered by m any. T hen th ere were his contributions to 
>  th e grow th o f our fa cu lty —  the role he played in 

the expansion of the m edical school and teaching 
hospitals an d  in designing th e new curriculum  —  to 
m ention but two. W hatever he did was done with 
dedication and singleness o f purpose.

But B rom , was a m an o f m any parts an d  a born 
leader. T hose o f us who knew  him  fo r a long time 
recognised th a t he did a great deal outside his norm al 
duties and th a t w hatever he did was fo r the sake o f his 
fellowmen.

Long ago during his student years in the late 1920’s 
and early 1930’s, he had already exhibited his rem ark ­
able qualities of leadership. H e was a m em ber o f the 
M en’s R esidence H ouse C om m ittee, convener o f the 
H ospital Rag, an d  cheerleader at intervarsity.

D uring W orld W ar II he was second in com m and of 
the 17th F ield  A m bulance in the W estern D esert until 
taken a prisoner o f w ar a t T o b ru k  in 1942. In the 
prisoner of w ar cam p in G erm any, “ the M a jo r” as he 
is still fondly rem em bered, becam e greatly respected 
and loved fo r keeping up th e m orale o f the troops, 
especially during a horrendous 700 m ile forced m arch. 
H e was m entioned in dispatches fo r services rendered to 
A llied prisoners o f w ar an d  he was later aw arded the 
Jo h n  C hard decoration.

W hile a stu d en t he was an active m em ber o f the 
dram atic society, an d  afte r th e war, while he was 
superintendent o f the F re re  H ospital in E ast L ondon, 
he was the m oving force responsible fo r establishing

the E a s t L ondon G uild T heatre. T here he w rote the 
stories an d  produced superb pantom im es in conjunction 
with his great friend, the late A rth u r M arks, who p ro ­
vided th e  music.

F o r m ost of his professional life he was a n  enthusias­
tic R o tarian . H e was P resident of R otary in E ast L o n ­
don a n d  C h arter P resident in R ondebosch. H e was also 
an active freem ason an d  M aster o f the L odge in E ast 
L ondon. H ere in C ape Town, w hile coping w ith the 
arduous duties o f a dean who h ad  to serve n o t only 
the university b u t also the hospitals d ep artm en t of the 
C ape P rovincial A dm inistration, he p articip ated  in m any 
extracu rricu lar activities. H e was the U niversity’s re p re ­
sentative on the South A frican M edical and D ental 
C ouncil and served on num erous subcom m ittees of th at 
council. H e served on C ripple C are, w hich had been 
his special “ b ab y ” since 1967, and after his retirem ent 
he becam e chairm an and devoted a great deal o f his 
tim e and effort to th at o rganisation, being particularly 
concerned with acquiring w heelchairs an d  providing 
access fo r these to  buildings. H e was also a very active 
m em ber o f the Eye B ank B oard and o f the Chris 
B arn ard  F und.

H e was a real fath er figure to the physiotherapists for 
m any years, an d  afte r his retire m en t continued to 
represent them  on the M edical C ouncil. H e  was also a 
great cham pion o f the logopaedists, chiropodists, o p to ­
m etrists, occupational therapists and nursing profession. 
Indeed, he was as busy after retire m en t as he had been 
before.

H ow ever, he kept som e free tim e for gardening, which 
he loved, carp en try  (he m ade superb p ictu re fram es) 
and, in recen t years, bow ling (I believe he becam e quite 
a cham pion).

Last, an d  by no m eans least, was his devotion to and 
his concern fo r his fam ily, w ho have enjoyed w hat 
W illiam  W ordsw orth expressed as: “T h a t best portion 
o f a good m a n ’s life —  his little nam eless, unrem em ­
bered acts of kindness and of love.” T o his wife N an, 
his son P at, his daughter L ynne and their spouses, 
W endy and E rnie, as well as the fo u r grandchildren, I 
wish to convey our sincerest condolences. I am  sure 
th a t you can depend on all of us for su p p o rt because 
Brom  was a very d e a r friend, an d  “ the true way to 
m ourn the dead is to take care of the living who 
belonged to them  . . .”

PROFESSOR B. BROMILOW-DOWNING (1 9 1 2 -1 9 8 0 )
M any and distinguished have been the tributes paid 

to Professor B rom ilow -D ow ning, be they in his role of 
President, subsequently H on. L ife President, o f our 
Society (his nam e appeared on the title page o f this 
Journal fo r probably as long as most of us can rem em ­
ber), o r in h is ro le as m em ber o f the S ou th A frican  
M edical and D ental C ouncil w ith special responsibility 
for the Supplem entary H e a lth  Professions, o r perhaps 
in his role as D ean  o f the U n iversity o f C ape Tow n 
M edical Faculty for 20 years, as active R o tarian  and 
charity w orker o r even as keen carn atio n  grow er and 
fram er of paintings.

H owever, I w ould like to  pay a m ore personal tribute, 
w ith some scattered thoughts, to the m an. H e  w as a 
m an’s m an; keen and interested in sporting activities, 
especially if the U n iv ersity  w as represented. As indica­
ted, he was a m an o f m any parts and th e way he used 
to keep them  each in th eir p ro p er place was to “w ear 
the appropriate h a t” . T his gave him  th e enorm ous 
ability to be both boss and friend, to deliver a gentle 
rebuke when needed, yet the next m in u te to  offer 
valuable an d  generous help. H e had a firm fram e­
work o f values w ithin which he judged the m any 
dilem m as which faced him  and if he ever suffered

doubt, he did not show it. Yet, if he had erred, he was 
n o t too proud to ad m it it.

H e  could alw ays be relied upon to act as m aster-of- 
cerem onies at a social gathering (how m any generations 
of U .C .T . physios, m u st rem em ber him  an d  his wife, 
N an , a t the d epartm ental year-end p arty ?), as he 
could also be relied upon for a few rem arks to in tro ­
duce o r th an k  a speaker. H is speeches always had the 
hallm arks of brevity, appropriateness and accuracy, 
laced w ith good hum our.

A lthough hospitalised fo r a h eart problem , he was 
cheerful an d  optim istic right up until his final illness 
struck, from  w hich he passed aw ay quietly, peacefully 
and m ercifully quickly. T he last tim e I spoke to him  
he assured m e th a t he did not “ look b a c k ” b u t was 
looking forw ard to, an d  was busy with, new projects, 
one of which was a D isabled Living C entre. T h a t is the 
picture o f him  I am  privileged to rem em ber.

T o N an , his devoted and beloved wife, to P a t and 
Lynne, his son and daughter, m ay I say, on behalf of us 
all, th a t our deepest sym pathy goes out to you. K now ing 
o ur own sense o f loss we can begin to un d erstan d  how 
g reat is yours and assure you of our thought an d  sup­
port- C. P . R O D S E T H

R
ep

ro
du

ce
d 

by
 S

ab
in

et
 G

at
ew

ay
 u

nd
er

 li
ce

nc
e 

gr
an

te
d 

by
 th

e 
P

ub
lis

he
r 

(d
at

ed
 2

01
3.

)