John Humphrey Gillies

Born February 17th, 1944 in Pontypridd, Wales, John emigrated to Canada in 1945. He spent his early years in Montréal where he developed his love of hockey. Moving to Vancouver in 1956, he attended McGee High School and then went on to UBC to acquire his B.Sc. and M.D. His early practice took him to Houston, B.C. and later back to the coast where he practiced in North Vancouver part-time, worked for the Canadian Penitentiary Service as their Medical Director of Western Canada, and completed his M.B.A. at Simon Fraser University.

He went on to become Medical Director at the Misericordia Hospital in Edmonton, the Victoria General Hospital in Halifax, and returned to the Lower Mainland at Surrey Memorial. He left SMH in 1986 and developed the first of four walk-in clinics in Surrey, Coquitlam, and Langley.

Upon learning of his diagnosis with leukemia, he left general practice to later open CarePlace Laser Clinic. John was an active and proud member of the North Delta Rotary Club. He was on the executive as well as rider for the Ride2Survive cancer fundraiser.

His wife, four children, and extended family would like to thank Dr. D. Fransen, Dr. K. Song, the incredible staff at the BMT unit at VGH, as well as the many palliative care physicians and nurses at PAH.

A celebration of John’s life will be held on Friday, March 11th at 1:30pm at Victory Memorial.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation or online at http://www.worldclasshealthcare.ca/Giving/tributes.html