Anthony Brain served as a consultant in geriatric medicine at Hackney from 1966 and later at St Bartholomew's Hospital. His style and manner exemplified the quiet sympathy he felt for patients, soon to be called 'clients' in the changing world in which he was to find himself. Tony listed his interests as 'fly-fishing, writing - and pottering'. This too typified the sort of man he was, a quiet, kind, thoughtful gentleman.
His father, Reginald Thomas Brain, was a consultant dermatologist and a Fellow of the College. Tony followed him into medicine, qualifying at the London Hospital after three years at Corpus Christi, Cambridge. He was a medical registrar at the London and the Royal Masonic, before becoming a consultant and being elected a Fellow of the College in 1978.
Tony was a softly spoken, unassuming and friendly geriatrician at Hackney, where he stood somewhat removed from the tumultuous social change and politics of this multicultural area. After over a decade there he moved the focus of his work to Bart's, a hospital with a more conservative view of care of the elderly.
His interests were vintage cars, his fine garden in Finchley, and antiques. His temperament was calm and his beliefs agnostic. These qualities, his intellect and humour supported him through his long illness - coronary heart disease and finally motor neurone disease.
Charles Clarke
[Brit.med.J.,2001,323,811]