Ray Lewkonia was a professor of medicine at University of Calgary, Canada, specialising in adult and paediatric rheumatology, with a particular interest in the genetics of connective tissue disease and management of chronic rheumatological disease.
Raymond Maurice Lewkonia was born on 22 April 1944 in Liverpool, England to David Lewkonia, a publisher, and his wife Roza (née Tenenbaum). He attended Liverpool Institute High School for Boys and received his medical education at Liverpool University Medical school. Following his junior and senior house jobs at Walton and Sefton General Hospitals in Liverpool he worked as registrar at the Royal Southern Hospital and Royal Liverpool Infirmary where he was highly respected as a skilled clinician.
After a year in Edinburgh doing research in immunology he continued his rheumatology career at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School, Hammersmith before moving to Calgary in 1976 to take up a post in rheumatology and immunology at the fairly new medical school at the University of Calgary. A series of assistant professor roles followed - in pediatrics from 1979, medical education in 1987 and medical genetics from 1994. In 1995 he gained a chair in the departments of medicine, pediatrics, medical genetics and the office of medical education at Calgary.
Ray was a passionate medical educator and a respected and committed teacher. He was instrumental in initiating the use of simulated patients which was innovative at that time. Although he was a quiet, introspective man and a principled clinician and academic, he remained a strong and unapologetic advocate for his patients.
He derived pleasure not only from his work but also from his family about whom he was justly proud. He enjoyed travel, photography and constructing complicated models with his treasured Meccano Number 10 sets.
Ray died on 3 October 2023. He is survived by Jane, his wife of 50 years whom he met when they were both doing house jobs in Liverpool and his two sons Peter [Katie] and Michael [Sasha] and 4 grandchildren Ewan, Connor, Rachel and Aaron.
Jane Lewkonia