It is with great sadness to announce that Dr. John Ashton Maither Henderson died in Ottawa, Ontario, on April 10, 2023.
He was born in Sheffield, England, on Nov. 20, 1928 and was the second son of David Thomson Henderson and Eleanor (Rowbotham) Henderson. He was predeceased by his brother David Henderson, an economist, of London, England.
Following graduation from the University of Manchester Medical School in 1952, his interest in respiratory medicine led to a long and distinguished career which began in earnest when he immigrated to Canada and was a staff physician at the Hamilton Sanatorium in 1959. An enriching and varied series of appointments followed, including a journey to Canada’s Eastern Arctic in 1960 on board the CGS CD Howe as chest radiologist, senior assistant resident and instructor at the University of Alabama Medical Centre in Birmingham, staff physician and research fellow at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal and attending physician at the Ottawa General Hospital from 1968 to 1994. He was appointed full professor of medicine at the University of Ottawa in 1986.
In 1984, Dr. Henderson led a team of devoted physicians and nurses at the Ottawa General to attend to Mme Jeanne Sauvé, who was appointed as the next Governor General. Her subsequent recovery, allowed Mme Sauvé to serve a full term as Canada’s 23rd Governor General, was an enormous sense of pride for all who cared for her.
While working at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal, Dr. Henderson had the good fortune to meet Carol Gilchrist. They were married in 1965 and for the next 57 years, they spent a very contented and fulfilling life together in Ottawa where they raised their three children, David, Robert (Federica Medina) and Julia (Alexander Konstantinou). Visits by his grandchildren from London (Giovanni, Lorenzo, Sebastiano) and from New York City (Ilana and Phoebe) brought an abundance of affection and filled him with immense pride. Long walks in all weather with his dogs Fergus and Willa were always joyous occasions.
On a clear and still Easter Monday morning, surrounded by his adoring family in the home he loved so much, he slipped away to the sound of his beloved antique clocks, striking ten.
He was deeply loved and respected by his family, friends, colleagues, patients, and medical students, and his irreplaceable erudition, wit and gentlemanly manner will be greatly missed.
