By Derek’s daughter Dr Catherine Birt, son Peter and brother David (Forest 1956-61)
A well-attended ‘Celebration of Lives’ memorial was held in Toronto, Canada, last August for Derek Birt and his wife, Anne. Derek died on 31 May 2023, aged 90, whilst Anne had predeceased him by seven months. They had been married for 62 years.
Brian Derek Birt was born on 20 March 1933 in Birmingham, to Charles and Mona Birt. His first name was never used and he was always known as Derek. His father was a Surgeon Lieutenant (later Surgeon Captain) in the Royal Navy and the family moves included postings to Malta between 1933 and 1937. The family (by now including brother Michael) moved several times during the war years and survived the heavy enemy blitzes on both Birmingham and Plymouth.
In 1946 Derek gained an Exhibition to Epsom, boarding in Forest under Housemaster Cedric Burton. Javelin throwing and playing in the hockey 1st XI were among his sporting successes. He enjoyed the RAF section of the CCF, later going on to gain his pilot’s licence.
After Epsom, Derek studied Medicine at University College Hospital, London (UCH). He missed one year of studies while confined to a sanatorium at Midhurst, being treated, successfully, for tuberculosis. Following his MB, BS, MRCS and LRCP medical qualifications in 1957, Derek held a number of surgical posts at UCH and the Edgware Hospital. During this period Derek met another doctor, Anne Deeks, and they married in 1960. He also developed a love for sailing, learning the art on a London reservoir. Derek achieved his Fellowship in Surgery (FRCS, London) in 1962 and moved to the Middlesex Hospital as Surgical Registrar in 1965.
In 1970 Derek accepted the offer of a Consultant post in Otolaryngology at Sunnybrook Hospital, Toronto, and he, Anne, their two children and the cat moved to Canada. They bought a house three days later and lived there for the next 46 years. The following year he achieved the Canadian Fellowship (FRCS, Canada). Derek specialised in head and neck cancers at the Princess Margaret Hospital and later at the Toronto Regional Cancer Centre when it opened on the Sunnybrook campus. In 1990 Derek was appointed Professor in the Department of Otolaryngology at the University of Toronto.
During his career Derek held multiple prestigious positions. These included President of the Canadian Otolaryngological Society, editor-in-chief of the Canadian Journal of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery, and director of the residency program in Otolaryngology at the University of Toronto. He helped create, and enjoyed working in, an innovative multi-disciplinary mouth clinic, and was a superb and much-liked clinical teacher.
Despite his very busy professional career, Derek had many hobbies including collecting antique barometers. In his second summer in Toronto he bought a boat, joined the Royal Canadian Yacht Club and sailed every year until advancing age forced a halt. He was most successful in his third boat, Myringa (the medical term for eardrum), once winning the Lake Ontario Racing Council season’s championship. It was most fitting that, after the Memorial event, Derek and Anne’s ashes were cast into Lake Ontario from his last boat.
Nearing retirement, Derek joined Cedar Brae Golf Club, enjoying playing with friends, including celebrating the achievement of a hole-in-one. He and Anne were regulars at the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and the Canadian Opera Society, and every week they listened to opera broadcast from the Met in New York. They also enjoyed meetings of the Toronto Arts & Letters Club where Derek delivered a number of talks. One was on ‘The Architecture of English Cathedrals’, which he had researched during occasional trips back to the UK.
Derek leaves his children, Catherine (Consultant Ophthalmologist) and Peter (Senior Counsel, Canadian Government), and his beloved granddaughter, Emily, as well as his younger siblings Alan Michael (Forest 1948-53), David and sister Gillian.
