Dr Peter McCormick

(1940 – 2015)

Dr Peter McCormick was born in Auckland in 1940. He was educated in Nelson and on the West Coast. He excelled at his studies and became an accomplished sportsman and rugby player. He also spent some of his childhood in Papua New Guinea.

Peter attended the University of Otago, where he graduated in 1963. That same year, he married June, and the couple moved to Christchurch. He devoted his studies to the specialty of obstetrics and gynaecology; a specialty in which he believed good practice made a major difference to people’s lives.

He worked for a period of time at the Royal Women’s Hospital in Melbourne as well as at the John Radcliffe in Oxford, UK. He was awarded Membership of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) in 1969.

Peter obtained Fellowship of the Royal New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RNZCOG) in 1982 and, following the amalgamation of the Australian and New Zealand Colleges, was admitted as a Fellow of RANZCOG in 1998.

Peter returned to Christchurch Women’s Hospital as tutor specialist. He had a great interest in teaching and is remembered for his well-prepared lectures. He was subsequently appointed as a consultant at Christchurch Women’s Hospital, where he was one of the core members of staff for many years. He was clinical director for a period in the early 1990s, a role to which he devoted significant energy. His dedication and commitment to service delivery over more than 30 years was an immense contribution to women’s health services in Canterbury. He also ran a successful private practice until his retirement in 2002.

Throughout his career, Peter was passionate about obstetrics and gynaecology and was always thorough and attentive to his patients. He was a careful and accomplished surgeon, supportive of his junior staff and respectful to his nursing and midwifery colleagues. He developed an interest in carcinoma of the vulva and its precursors and made observations regarding the nature of lichen sclerosus related vulval cancers relevant to current practice.

Outside his work, Peter was a devoted family man and maintained an interest in his north Canterbury farm.

Peter died on 23 October 2015. He is survived by his wife June and children Anna, Jan, Kari and John.