Cover image for
Resource Name:
Resource Type:
External Resource
Metadata
Asset Name:
E008284 - Raven, Ronald William (1904 - 1991)
Title:
Raven, Ronald William (1904 - 1991)
Author:
Royal College of Surgeons of England
Identifier:
RCS: E008284
Publisher:
London : Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date:
2015-10-01
Description:
Obituary for Raven, Ronald William (1904 - 1991), Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.
Language:
English
Source:
Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Full Name:
Raven, Ronald William
Date of Birth:
28 July 1904
Date of Death:
24 October 1991
Occupation:
Titles/Qualifications:
OStJ

Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur

MRCS 1928

FRCS 1931

MD (Hon Causa)

LRCP 1928
Details:
Ronald William Raven was born on 28 July 1904 and educated at Ulverston Grammar School. He trained at St. Bartholomew's Hospital where he qualified with the conjoint diploma in 1928. He was demonstrater in anatomy at Barts from 1929 to 1931, registrar in statistics at the National Radium Commission and held junior surgical appointments 1931 to 1935. Appointed assistant surgeon at Gordon Hospital in 1935, he then became assistant surgeon at the Royal Cancer Hospital from 1939 to 1946 and surgeon, 1946-1962. During the Second World War he served in the RAMC in North Africa, Italy and Malta and, having been mentioned in despatches, was awarded the OBE in 1946. After the war he became a colonel in the Territorial Army and was a consultant at the Royal Star and Garter Home for Disabled Sailors, Soldiers and Airmen 1948-1969. Ronald Raven was an international figure in the surgery of malignant disease and a staunch supporter of the concept of a single discipline of oncology. A general surgeon by training and aptitude, he centred his life's work on treatment of the oesophagus, pharynx, and colorectum. He preached and practised the team approach with collaboration between radiotherapists, chemotherapists, and pathologists to plan the best possible result for the patient. He perfected a safe technique, well demonstrated in radical neck resections, which allowed complete removal of tumours with low morbidity. He rejected the philosophy of terminal care for patients with advanced malignant disease and fostered that of "rehabilitation and continuing care," serving as chairman of the rehabilitation committee of the International Union Against Cancer for many years. The number of his contributions to medical literature was phenomenal; these contributions ranged from an original paper on the right chest approach in the oesophagus in 1934 to his penultimate volume, *The Theory and Practice of Oncology*, this year. An additional work, *An Atlas of Tumours*, was delivered to his publisher a few days before he became ill. He edited and contributed to the multivolume encyclopaedic work *Cancer*, which became the benchmark for the then state of the art (1957-63). A clear and forthright speaker, he was a favourite contributor to conferences at home and overseas. He travelled worldwide to lecture and given surgical demonstrations and received many international honours. He developed the work of the Marie Curie Memorial Foundation from its inception in 1948, bringing it to its present eminence as a major cancer charity; he became its first President in 1990. Always concerned about the education of the young, he was chairman of the Royal Medical Foundation of Epsom College for 36 years, being elected president in 1990. Ronald Raven was always impeccably dressed and friendly to all, giving total attention to each person. He had a prodigious memory, and his meticulous attention to detail evinced itself in everything he did. His life's ambition to found a university chair in oncology was fulfilled with the inauguration of the Ronald Raven department of clinical oncology at the Royal Free Hospital in 1990. At the College he was a distinguished member of Council from 1968 to 1976; a member of the Court of Patrons; Arris & Gale Lecturer 1933; Erasmus Wilson Lecturer 1935, 1946 and 1947, Hunterian Professor 1948; Bradshaw Lecturer 1975 and served on boards of the various specialist associations. He died on 24 October 1991 and the Council renamed a Board Room the Ronald Raven Room "in recognition of his many services to the College and Specialty Associations" (Council Minutes 14 January 1988, p. 49). In 1993 the new initiative of an education department at the College began partly with a generous bequest from Ronald Raven's Trustees and the department was called the Raven Department of Education in his honour and opened by his sister, Dame Kathleen Raven, on 14 September, 1993.
Sources:
*BMJ* 1991 304 114
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/E008000-E008999/E008200-E008299
Media Type:
Unknown