DAVID GASS

(New Brunswick & Brasenose 1969) (29 April 1945 - 19 March 2021)

David graduated from Mount Allison University in 1967, attended Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar in 1969, and graduated from Dalhousie Medical School in 1973. Family Medicine was the bedrock of David's long, impactful, professional career. He was dedicated to the worth and value of compassionate, patient and relationship centred care. An avid reader and original thinker, he embraced narrative medicine, the deep understanding of the person with their unique story, beliefs and values, as the path to healing in the day to day work of family doctors.

'The universe is made not of atoms, but of stories.'

He began practice in Fredericton, NB, in 1973, and joined the Department of Family Medicine at Dalhousie University in 1978 as a leader in continuing medical education, and care of the elderly. Although he held many other posts, he kept his Dalhousie faculty appointment the rest of his life. As Professor and Head of Dalhousie Family Medicine from 1987 - 1995, he led and taught through understanding and gentle challenge - his motto 'When we tell a person something, we remove their chance to discover it themselves'. He asked astute questions, encouraged and supported people to discover their own answers. Kind, humble and patient, he delighted in the achievements of those he mentored. A timeless sense of duty, instilled by his parents, shaped his approach to life and work. David was always ready to lend a hand and most happy when he felt he was contributing.