Dr. Ronald Murray Bremner

Passed away October 21, 2011 in Royal University Hospital, Saskatoon following recurrent infections, but thankfully no dementia. He is survived by his wife of 62 years, Muriel, a resident of Luther Special Care Home, by two children, both residing in Saskatoon, daughter Margaret (married to Bruce Filson) and their three daughters (Chloë, Lydia, Veronica), and son Murray. He was predeceased by his only sibling, younger brother Gordon of Toronto.

Activities in his busy life included: education in Toronto at Runnymeade Public School and at the University of Toronto School; graduation as MD from the University of Toronto in 1945; military service with Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps for three years; appointment as Senior Research Officer with Atomic Energy of Canada Limited at Chalk River; general medical practice for four years in communities in Ontario; post-graduate studies for five years in Toronto, Britain and Europe; recognition as a certified specialist in Dermatology and Syphilology in 1954 and subsequent acceptance as Fellow of the College of Physicians of Canada.

He moved to Saskatoon in 1954 with his young family to establish the city’s first private practice in dermatology which he continued for 35 years until his retirement in 1990. During these years he served all three of Saskatoon’s hospitals, taught in all three nursing schools, and taught pro bono for more than eight hours per week in the College of Medicine at the U of S for 17 years. In late 1966 he served with CARE/MEDICO in Afghanistan where he encountered exotic cutaneous manifestations of small pox, leprosy, tuberculosis and leishmaniasis.

He published articles, research papers and book reviews in various medical journals, but was not a prolific author. He regularly attended annual meetings of the Canadian Dermatological Association in cities all across Canada, Mexico City and Dublin. He was a delegate to the International Congresses in London (1952) and Stockholm (1957).

Especially rewarding were his connections with China, which he first visited in 1980 as a member of a small, select group of Canadian dermatologists invited by the government to conduct clinics and present lectures in several hospitals and universities of the Middle Kingdom’s six largest cities then open to foreigners. A decade later he served with the Evangelical Medical Aid Society in Wenzhou, Jiangyin, Wuxi, and Nanjing. He returned to China as a tourist on at least three occasions.

In the community he was a Rotarian for 30 years, was one of three founders and first president of the Saskatoon Nature Society (formerly Natural History Society) in 1955, and was active in politics as campaigner, treasurer and president of the Saskatchewan Liberal Party. He devoted hours to his interests in genealogy, ornithology, philately and numismatics. He was a voracious reader of newspapers and magazines, and travelled extensively world-wide. Perhaps his deepest involvement was with St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church where he taught Sunday School, served on the Board of Managers and was a member of Session for more than 53 years. For the Presbyterian Church in Canada he was a member of committees and a commissioner to the General Assembly on three occasions, and established the Bremner Memorial Fund in honour of his parents, J. Murray and Catharine Bremner.

A Memorial Service will be held on Monday, October 31, at 3 p.m. at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, 436 Spadina Crescent East in Saskatoon, with Rev. Amanda Currie officiating. Condolences may be sent to the family through www.acadiamckaguesfuneralcentre.com . Arrangements are in care of Kurtis Rae 955-1600.