William James McLaren (Bill) was conceived in Montreal when his parents were visiting Canada and born in the UK. Educated in Scotland in Broughty Ferry, he then studied medicine at St Andrews University graduating MB, ChB in 1944. He did house jobs in Carlisle and Oswestry. For his National Service he was a surgeon in the RAF Medical Branch for two and a half years and passed the fellowship of the college in 1948. In 1951 he and his family moved to Canada, settling in Vancouver, British Columbia where he was appointed resident in thoracic surgery at Vancouver General Hospital. In 1952 he worked at the British Columbia Department of Tuberculosis Control as a surgical specialist and, for five years, was at the Tranquille Sanatorium. Four years later he commenced work at the Royal Inland Hospital at Kamloops where he eventually became chief of surgery and president of the medical staff. He was also a partner at the Burris Clinic and, on his retirement from both appointments in 1988, he continued to work as a part-time medical advisor. In spite of his hospital commitments, Bill managed to find time to enjoy local activities in Kamloops. At various times he was president of the Ski Club, Figure Skating Club, Tennis Club, Tod Mountain Ski Club, Rotary Club and Thompson Valley Film Society. An active man, he continued to swim and play tennis until his early 90s and, at one time, figure skated and water skied. Other interests were theatre and classical music and walking his much loved black labrador dogs. Most of his life he kept a diary and was known to reference these for the witty speeches he was famous for making. In retirement he and his wife enjoyed travelling widely and he also took up astronomy, attending classes throughout his old age. He met Patricia Taylor while doing house jobs in Oswestry, UK and married her in 1946. They had three sons, Andrew, Ian and Niall. Pat suffered a debilitating stroke in 1996 and Bill cared for her until she died in 2012. He died of a stroke on 20 July 2014 aged 93, as he was planning a visit to Scotland for a friend’s 100th birthday. His daughter-in-law, Bonnie, predeceased him and he was survived by his sons, daughters-in-law, Celeste and Dawn, grandchildren Brent (married to Christine), Tricia, Kristin, Alyse (Jason), Mackenzie (Dylan), Kimberly (Kevin) & Kirk (Christine), (Abby), and great-grandchildren Jasper, Lucas, Tessa, Josie and Libbie.