1945 - 2025
Obituary by Ralph himself and Jonathan Goddard
Ralph Campbell Beard was born on 20 January 1945, the third son of Janet Beard (née Ellis) who, prior to marriage, was centre-forward for the English hockey team for six years. His father John Beard was a cardiac anaesthetist, Dean of Cardiology at the National Heart Hospital and then General Practitioner.
Ralph’s childhood was spent in Wimbledon and, for his education, he went to Westminster School, Gonville & Caius College Cambridge and St Thomas’s Hospital Medical School.
He failed the Final Fellowship on his first attempt – “It is a matter of luck what you get asked” – his anaesthetist father’s response being: “Who wants an unlucky surgeon?” He passed second time joining his two elder brothers - Charles, a Plastic Surgeon and Robert, a Gynaecologist. In 1974, he married Josephine (née Kemp) from Anglesey and they had three children, Sam, Emma and Ben.
His Registrar years took him to Carshalton, Southampton and Kingston, with his Senior Registrar years at St Thomas’ Hospital under Kenneth Shuttleworth, Wyndham Lloyd-Davies and Michael Bultitude, followed by a period at The Institute of Urology. His research year was in the Surgical Unit under Professor Browse and Kevin Burnand, which resulted in a Thesis entitled "Fibrinogen and Renal Lymph" for which he was awarded the MChir with a distinction viva, a rare honour. His year at the Institute, with its exposure to specialist urology, and being a houseman again with a flat in Henrietta Street, was, on his own admission, "fabulous".
In September 1981, he was appointed as a General Surgeon with a special interest in Urology to Worthing District Hospitals. His responsibilities were urology at Worthing plus lithotripsy at STH, and Hospital, District and Regional administrative duties with busy "on-calls" covering colorectal, vascular and reconstructive urology. He was Regional Medical Audit Chair, Member of BAUS Council, Chair of the first Urology IOG Group and Chair of the South Thames Urological Surgical Training Committee. In 2006 he chaired and produced the urology part of the "Closer to Home’"Project for the DHSS, and was the Principal Investigator of Tim O’Brien’s ODMIT-C, the largest randomised trial of upper tract transitional cell carcinomas of the kidney.
Ralph was always a keen skier and a very regular attendee of the RSM Section of Urology winter meetings. It was probably this that led to his election as President for the 2005 - 6 academic year. The Presidential Address covered aspects and reflections on his career and was followed by a memorable evening dinner in the Media Pod at Lords. The Winter Meeting, with Jeremy Noble as Secretary, was held at the Colony Club in Barbados jointly with the Caribbean Urological Association and was judged by the skiers and many non-skiers a success.
Following retirement in 2012, he worked for two years at Guy's Hospital, and the Royal Surrey Hospital in Guildford. From 2012 to 2020 he was the Secondary Care Clinician on the Governing Body of Coastal West Sussex CCG. In retirement, with his wife Josephine, daughter, her husband and two grandchildren he enjoyed himself looking after the smallholding and biking on the South Downs.
Ralph passed away on Wednesday 17 September 2025. During his last day, he was surrounded by his wife Jo, children Sam, Emma & Ben, grandchildren Misha, Lee, Kate, Jacob, Ollie, Woody & Trixie, and Sienna the dog.
The photo above was taken when members of the Punch Club - membership is by invitation only - met for their 70th anniversary celebrations in the Apothecaries' Hall, London.
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