Well-known Jamaica-Canadian otolaryngologist dies

TORONTO:

Dr Frederick Edward Aldrick ‘Buddy’ McIntosh, an ear, nose and throat specialist and an alumnus of Kingston College, passed away peacefully in hospital on March 28 in Ontario, Canada. He was 88 years old.

Born on February 4, 1937, he is survived by Alethia McIntosh, his wife for 64 years, and his children.

“I do thank everyone for your beautiful messages of condolences. They have lifted our spirits at a time when it is so easy to let our sorrow bury us. It is good to be reminded that we are not alone, that God sends you, His angels, to lift us up and to help us feel securely surrounded by the ‘everlasting arms’, she said.

“To his patients and all who knew and loved Buddy, he was an excellent physician and surgeon, and a most wonderful and generous friend. To his family he has been a beloved husband, father, brother, uncle, cousin. He will be missed by all.”

A student at Kingston College from 1948 to 1955, McIntosh worked at the North Street Pathological Laboratory upon graduation. The three years he spent there were instrumental in consummating his love of the medical profession, notes an article about him in the KC Times online newsletter.

In October 1958, McIntosh enrolled at the University College of the West Indies (UCWI) to pursue a degree in medicine. He graduated from the medical faculty in April 1965.

Dr McIntosh interned at Kingston Public Hospital from May 1965 to December 1966 and subsequently worked at the Kingston Public Hospital and the UWI Hospital until September 1968.

From 1968 to 1972, he pursued postgraduate studies in otolaryngology, ear, nose and throat surgery at University of Toronto. He obtained the prestigious Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons (Canada) (FRCS(C), and the American Diplomate of the American Board of Otolaryngology in the USA, both in 1973. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Opthalmology and Otolaryngology in 1976.

Dr McIntosh was one of the two founding charter members of the Toronto Chapter of the Kingston College Old Boys Association (KCOBA), which was established in December 1973.

Dr McIntosh was the recipient of many awards from several organisations for community service in Toronto and Jamaica.

Starting in March 1974, Dr McIntosh was a consultant otolaryngologist at the Humber Memorial Hospital, now known as the Humber River Regional Hospital.

POSITIVE IMPACT

A few days after Hurricane Gilbert wreaked havoc in Jamaica, McIntosh flew to Jamaica with medicines, antibiotics, vaccines and other needed medical supplies.

For his contribution to medicine and community services in Jamaica and Toronto, Dr. McIntosh was invested with the Order of Distinction (OD) by the Jamaican Government in October 1995.

“I am truly saddened at the passing of a giant of our Jamaican community here in Toronto. Dr. Buddy McIntosh lived a life of service and amidst his own personal success was always ready to give back to the community, to Jamaica and to his beloved Kingston College. We will miss his dedicated contribution, his wise counsel and his great talent and extend deepest condolences to his family and loved ones during this time of grief. We can all take comfort in the legacy of positive impact that he has left behind,” said Kurt Davis, Jamaica’s consul-general at Toronto.

Veteran journalist, Philip Mascoll, said McIntosh was the first new friend he made when he moved to Canada in 1980.

“I was referred to him by Dr Charles Lyn, an ear, nose and throat specialist in Jamaica who had been treating my eldest son. Buddy had taught Lyn at UWI medical faculty. I called Buddy when I got here and he invited us to his home, so he could examine Philip Jr. – and to share one of what became hundreds of meals in which Buddy and I sought to out-cook each other.

“In the next four-plus decades, he became Uncle Buddy or “Doc” to my three children and subsequently my grandchildren, and a dear close friend – “the Budman” – to me and my then wife and subsequent female companions.”

Mascoll said now the many meals in Jamaica and Canada are at an end. “In my opinion I am the superior chef, though Buddy, a master cook and trencherman would never admit it. We ate well and we taste clashed. Buddy, my true brethren, I will miss you fiercely. Our lengthy political arguments in which we set Jamaica and the rest of the planet to rights were legendary. Bon Appetit Budman. There will never be another like you.”

Grace Carter-Henry Lyons, founder and musical director of Heritage Singers (Canada), said McIntosh was always around and was included in a small group she formed – Friends of the Heritage Singers.

“I always called him the community doctor too.” She recalled an incident when a member of the group had a nosebleed at a rehearsal and he was present and found out that the member had a health condition that required operation; McIntosh did the operation.

She described him as an excellent surgeon who also helped her with a health matter, and that he was accessible to anyone from the group.

On Saturday May 17, from 10:30am to 11:15am there will be a memorial visitation, followed by a memorial service at 11:30am at Glendale Funeral Home in Etobicoke, Ontario. A Masonic funeral will be arranged for a later date.

In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting that donations are made to KCOBA (Toronto Chapter) for contribution towards Kingston College’s Centenary Legacy Project in memory of Dr Buddy McIntosh.