Harold Hastings Gunson, a life-long member of the medical profession from Burton-in-Kendal, has died aged 76.
Dr Gunson was born in Harrington, Cumbria, in 1929 and he attended the local village school before moving to Burnley to attend Burnley Grammar School.
After leaving school he attended Victoria University of Manchester and gained an MB ChB in Medicine in 1952.
He achieved a Doctor of Medicine in 1962 and a Doctor of Science in 1978.
In 1963 he took his MRC Pathologist exam and became a founding member of the Royal College of Pathologists. In 1974, he was re-elected and became a Fellow.
In 1980, he became a member of the Royal College of Physicians and later became a Fellow of both the Royal College of Physicians of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.
He married his wife, Margaret, in July 1954 and they emigrated to Toronto, Canada, where Dr Gunson cared for sick children. The couple moved to Winnipeg before moving back home to England in 1959.
Dr Gunson then began work at the Regional Blood Transfusion Service in Manchester. Three years later he was graded as a consultant and three years after that he became the consultant in charge at the Lancaster Sub-Centre.
In 1975, he became Director at the Oxford Regional Blood Transfusion Service before returning to Manchester in 1980 to become director of the North West Regional Blood Transfusion Service.
During his time there he worked closely with the Government to help it deal with the increasing number of people suffering from AIDS during the 1980s.
In 1988, he became national director of all 14 blood transfusion centres in the UK. In 1993, his dedication to medicine was recognised when he was awarded a CBE as part of the Queen's 1992 New Year honours list.
Dr Gunson retired in July 1994 to take up the role of secretary general of the International Society of Blood Transfusion from his home in Burton-in-Kendal.
He leaves behind his wife, Margaret, three children, David, John and Elizabeth, and two granddaughters, Rebecca and Christine.
"He was a very caring, loving and helpful man. My mother has many letters from people who he had helped throughout his life," said his daughter, Elizabeth.
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