McFarlane, Robert M. '45

Robert M. ‘Bob’ McFarlane attended Ridley from 1940-45 where he distinguised himself as an all round athlete.  He attended the University of Western Ontario from 1946 to 1950, running track and playing football for the Western Mustangs where, as kicker, he was the leading scorer in 1947 and 1949.  With his brother Don ’44, he represented Canada in track at the 1948 Olymic Games in London and was the flag bearer for the Canadian team.  In 1950 he was awarded the Lou Marsh Trophy as Canada’s top athlete and was recognized as Western’s Athlete of the Century.  McFarlane turned down an offer to play professional football with the Montreal Alouettes to focus on medicine, graduating from Western in 1951 and earning a MSc in Surgery in 1954.  McFarlane was a highly respected plastic surgeon, considered a pioneer in hand surgery. Author of 51 papers and 53 book chapters, and editor of two books, he served as Chairman of the Division of Plastic Surgery at Western from 1959 until 1994, Chief of Surgery at Victoria General Hospital in the mid 1980’s, president of the Canadian Society for Surgery of the Hand, the American Society for Surgery of the Hand and the International Federation of Societies of Surgery of the Hand.  Through his research McFarlane became a world expert in Dupuytren’s contracture. In 1992, he co-founded the Hand and Upper Limb Centre, a combined plastic surgery and orthopedic surgery upper extremity unit. This unit, the largest of its kind in Canada, has become a nationally and internationally recognized centre of excellence for upper limb patient care, teaching and research. He was awarded the Hand Surgery Pioneer Award (from the International Foundation) in 1998 and the Canadian Society of Plastic Surgeons Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004. McFarlane died in London, Ontario on February 27, 2006 at the age of 78.