Frederick James Theodore Foenander was born in Colombo on 22 September 1898, the only son of Dr F V Foenander, a provincial surgeon in the Department of Medical and Sanitary Services. He was educated at St Thomas's College, Colombo, and entered Ceylon Medical College in 1918. In 1921 he entered the Middlesex Hospital Medical School qualifying MRCS LRCP in 1925. In 1927 he passed his MRCP and in 1930 his FRCS. In 1931 he married Miss Dorothy May Spriggs, returning to Ceylon the same year. He joined a general practice in Colombo, the partners in which acted as medical officers to Mackinnon, Mackenzie and Co. He was the senior partner at the time of his death on 17 November 1977.