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OBITUARY Cecil Moss

and played for their first XV in 1943. In by Chris Barnard that performed the world’s 1944 he broke his studies and enlisted first human-to-human heart transplant in the armed forces together with fifteen operation, during which he cared for the other UCT students. He became a medical donor during the explantation procedure corporal in the Special Service Battalion before assisting senior anaesthetist Dr of the 6th Division, serving in Egypt and Joseph Ozinsky. In 1989 he returned to Italy. After the war he returned to UCT, private practice with Dr Clive Nussbaum. graduating MB ChB in 1948, at the age Cecil is probably best known for his of 23. success on the rugby field as player, coach During his internship year at Durban’s and administrator. He coached the UCT King Edward VIII Cecil captained rugby team for nine years, during which the Natal rugby team and was vice-captain time they won the Grand Challenge, Town of the 1949 Springbok rugby team that Challenge and Ted Sceales trophies. He trounced the All Blacks 4-0. also coached Western Province from 1972 In November 1950, Cecil married Uni­ to 1992, winning several Currie Cups, and versity of Natal science student Jill Kalf. The during the isolation years he coached the couple moved to , where Cecil Springboks, winning ten out of twelve went into general practice. He developed ‘unofficial tests’. an interest in anaesthesia, and in 1954 Cecil’s colleagues and friends will remem- Anaesthetist Dr Cecil Moss died in Cape they relocated to England, where he ber him for his modesty, thought­fulness, Town on 27 October 2017, at the age of 92. specialised at the University of Liverpool attention to detail and intellect. A few weeks He was born in Riversdale in February 1925, under Prof. Cecil Gray and then at London ago, he paid a fascinating off-the-cuff tribute to parents of Lithuanian extraction. His Hospital, obtaining the DA (Ire) in 1955, to Ozinsky at the memorial service held for grandfather served as Rabbi in Riversdale. the DA (Eng) in 1956 and the FFA RCS him at GSH. Determined to provide their sons with a (Eng) in 1957. Cecil is survived by his wife Jill, their son good education, Cecil’s parents moved to After returning to Cape Town in 1959, Jaime and daughter Tessa, and four grand­ and enrolled them at SACS, Cecil became a founder partner of Dr Basil children. from where Cecil matriculated at the Solomon and Partners (forerunner of the age of 15 in 1940. An excellent all-round Cape Anaesthetic Clinic), with part-time sportsman, he never played for the school’s sessions at Hospital. In 1961 Peter Gordon first rugby team because of his young age. he returned to full-time practice at Groote Archivist, South African Society of Anaesthesiologists The following year he enrolled to study Schuur. As the anaesthetist on call on 3 Cape Town, medicine at the , Decem­ber 1967, he was part of the team led [email protected]

1053 December 2017, Vol. 107, No. 12