A RESPECTED former consultant surgeon and NHS chief has died.
Mr Garrick Graham was a surgeon for over 25 years at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary before becoming chairman of the Huddersfield NHS Trust in the 1990s.
He has died at the age of 77.
As well as pushing forward several innovative surgical procedures in Huddersfield, he was very active in the management of the Trust.
He worked tirelessly to introduce clinical management into the organisation, encouraging managers and clinicians to work together to the benefit of patients. He held the top management role in the Trust for a number of years and during this time the Trust developed a high national profile and reputation.
He was on the committee of the Heart of Huddersfield Appeal which the Examiner organised a decade ago and which raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for a high-technology cardiac unit at the Huddersfield Royal Infirmary. Following his retirement he remained committed to the Trust and served on the Membership Council representing the public of Lindley.
A keen supporter of Huddersfield Town FC, he was a director in the early seventies and later chairman of the club in the 1973 and 1974 seasons.
Originally from New Zealand, Mr Graham moved to Huddersfield in 1967 and lived on Thornhill Road, Marsh.
He died peacefully at home after a long illness and leaves his wife Joy and three children, Michael, Kathryn and Jacky, and three grandchildren, Alexander, Tom and Imogen.
A funeral service will be held at St Stephen’s Church, Lindley, led by Canon Catherine Ogle, on Thursday, February 11, at 10.45am, followed by a private service of committal at Huddersfield Crematorium.
