Ivan Lichter (14 March 1918 – 12 June 2009) was a

thoracic The thorax or chest is a part of the anatomy of humans, mammals, and other tetrapod animals located between the neck and the abdomen. In insects, crustaceans, and the extinct trilobites, the thorax is one of the three main divisions of the crea ...

surgeon and a pioneer in the field of

palliative care Palliative care (derived from the Latin root , or 'to cloak') is an interdisciplinary medical caregiving approach aimed at optimizing quality of life and mitigating suffering among people with serious, complex, and often terminal illnesses. Wit ...

in New Zealand. He was appointed to the Order of New Zealand, the country's highest honour and limited to 20 living people, in the

1997 Queen's Birthday Honours The 1997 Birthday Honours were announced on 14 June 1997 for the United Kingdom and on 2 June 1997 for New Zealand.New Zealand list: Queen's Birthday Honours are announced on or around the date of the Queen's Official Birthday in the United King ...

Early life

Lichter was born in South Africa in 1918. He received his secondary education from

Grey High School Grey High School is a semi-private English speaking high school (grades 8 - 12) for boys situated in the suburb of Mill Park in Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is one of the top sporting schools in the country, ...

in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. He graduated from the

University of the Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), is a multi-campus South African public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University or Wits ( or ). The university ...

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Dem ...

in 1940. He served with the South African Medical Corps during the second world war. After the war, he specialised in thoracic surgery and had his own medical practice. In 1951, he married Heather Lloyd and they were to have four children, three of whom also went into the medical profession. He wanted to leave South Africa to get away from its politics, as the Afrikaans National Party started giving positions in hospitals to their supporters, and its

antisemitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

. He had the choice between a place in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

and a place in New Zealand that he thought was called "Dune Din"; he settled on the latter and came to

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

() with his family.

Life in New Zealand

He was an assistant lecturer at the

University of Otago , image_name = University of Otago Registry Building2.jpg , image_size = , caption = University clock tower , motto = la, Sapere aude , mottoeng = Dare to be wise , established = 1869; 152 years ago , type = Public research collegiate ...

and at the same time was a surgeon for the Otago Hospital Board. From 1974, he was interested in palliative care. He retired from medical practice in 1984 and used the time to write ''Communication in Cancer Care'', his most notable book. He moved to

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...

in 1986 and took up a medical directorship at Te Omanga Hospice. He retained his directorship until 1993 and was an honorary consultant afterwards. Among the organisation that he belonged to: *Advisory Board of Palliative Medicine *International Advisory Committee to the International Congress on the Care of the Terminally Ill *Founding executive member of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Palliative Medicine

Death

Ivan Lichter died in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

on 12 June 2009, at the age of 91. He was survived by his wife, their four children, and eight grandchildren.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lichter, Ivan 1918 births 2009 deaths Members of the Order of New Zealand New Zealand thoracic surgeons University of the Witwatersrand alumni Academic staff of the University of Otago South African emigrants to New Zealand 20th-century surgeons