Born in London on 20 February 1931 to Harris Berkley, a pharmacist and Dora Le Vine, Reginald Maurice Berkley was educated at King Edward VII School, King's Lynn. He went to Melbourne in 1950, where he studied medicine at the University of Melbourne and the Royal Melbourne Hospital. After graduating he was junior and senior resident medical officer at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, a demonstrator in anatomy, and registrar at the Royal Women's Hospital in 1959. He was registrar at the Royal Melbourne Hospital whilst studying for the FRACS. He then came to England as senior registrar at the Royal Infirmary and Ronkswood Hospitals, Worcester. On returning to Melbourne in 1964, he was honorary assistant surgeon at the Alfred Hospital and then specialised in otorhinolaryngology, becoming ENT registrar at the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital. He later moved to Gippsland, where he was in general and ENT practice for five years, before returning to Melbourne to practice entirely in ENT. He had many interests, including travel, classical music, opera and art. In 1986 he studied for a degree in fine arts at the University of Melbourne and in 1989 for a bachelor of letters, submitting a thesis on the Angry Penguins, through which he came to know Albert Tucker, an Australian artist. He married Valerie Miles in 1962. They had two daughters, Jane and Vanessa. He died on 12 November 2002.