Berger, Peter Lucian (1923 - 2017)
by
 
D R Thomas

Asset Name
E009406 - Berger, Peter Lucian (1923 - 2017)

Title
Berger, Peter Lucian (1923 - 2017)

Author
D R Thomas

Identifier
RCS: E009406

Publisher
London : Royal College of Surgeons of England

Publication Date
2018-01-17
 
2018-11-27

Subject
Medical Obituaries

Description
Obituary for Berger, Peter Lucian (1923 - 2017), Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.

Language
English

Source
Plarr's Lives of the Fellows

Full Name
Berger, Peter Lucian

Date of Birth
16 September 1923

Place of Birth
Koenigsberg, East Prussia, Germany

Date of Death
9 December 2017

Occupation
General surgeon
 
Colorectal surgeon

Titles/Qualifications
MRCS LRCP 1946
 
FRCS Edin 1956
 
FRCS 1957

Details
Peter Berger was a consultant surgeon at the Good Hope Hospital, West Bromwich, Sutton Coldfield, Lichfield and Tamworth Group of Hospitals and at the North Birmingham Hospital Group. He was born in Königsberg, East Prussia as the only child of Max Mark Berger, a dental surgeon, and Gertrude Berger née Wald, the daughter of an apothecary. At the age of 14 he left Germany to escape Nazi persecution, arriving in the UK in April 1938. He lived in London and was granted naturalisation in July 1947. Peter was educated at Epsom College and gained an entrance scholarship to St George’s Hospital to read medicine, qualifying in 1946. He became a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 1956 and subsequently became a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1957. His postgraduate career was as a resident surgical officer at Epping and St George’s, and he was then appointed as a senior registrar in the West Midlands area, working at Coventry hospitals, where he was much influenced by Trevor Berrill, Victor Brookes and Lionel Jones. He was also encouraged early in his career by Rodney Smith. His consultant career commenced in the north Birmingham and Staffordshire area, and he was appointed as one of three consultant surgeons in the then new Good Hope Hospital in Sutton Coldfield with outlying outpatient and operating sessions in Tamworth and Lichfield. Peter had a considerable and wide general surgical practice with a particular interest in colorectal surgery. He was the college tutor at Good Hope from 1967 until 1973, maintaining an active interest in surgical teaching of undergraduates and postgraduates. He was a member of the West Midlands Surgical Society, and also attended meetings at the Royal Colleges on a regular basis. He developed many contacts in the surgical world and was responsible for developing an exchange programme for local registrars with Swiss trainees from Basel. He was a great family man. He was married to Helen (née Levy) and had a son and two daughters. His children did not follow him into medicine. PLB was an imposing man with an engaging manner whose main interests were skiing, miniature Schnauzers and supporting his wife’s engrossing hobby of postcard collecting. Following his retirement, he moved back to London and spent the remaining 29 years there and little was seen of him in the Midlands, although he was still remembered with affection by patients and colleagues alike. Peter Berger died on 9 December 2017 aged 94.

Sources
Index of Old Epsomian Biographies between 1915 and 1939 [http://archive.epsomcollege.org.uk/1915-1939/OE_Biographies/1915-1939.pdf](http://archive.epsomcollege.org.uk/1915-1939/OE_Biographies/1915-1939.pdf) – accessed 27 October 2018

Rights
Copyright (c) The Royal College of Surgeons of England

Collection
Plarr's Lives of the Fellows

Format
Obituary

Format
Asset

Asset Path
Root/Lives of the Fellows/E009000-E009999/E009400-E009499

URL for File
381810

Media Type
Unknown