Dean Milton Southwood AM FRACS
Otolaryngology, Head & Neck Surgeon
16 May 1936 - 9 April 2020
Dean was a Fellow of RACS and a leading light in ENT surgery, acting as Head of Unit at Modbury Hospital for 30 years. His visionary role in the Anti-Smoking movement is something that is now accepted world-wide
An avid cricketer, Dean was the former President and Life Member of the East Torrens District Cricket Club and possibly the most influential person in the club’s history. In the 1980s, the club took a brave stand against tobacco company sponsorship of the game. The club made the decision to not accept money that was provided through tobacco sponsorship at the Australian Cricket Board level. Through Dean’s hard work, an Anti-Smoking Support Group was established to, in part, replace the sponsorship that the club was forgoing.
As an ear, nose and throat surgeon, Dean was in the perfect position to judge the harmful effects of smoking; quite simply he basically took on the tobacco companies and the SACA (whose main sponsor was Benson and Hedges). Dean was subsequently able to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for the club. His courage in the face of strong opposition from the tobacco lobby was outstanding. Not long after this turbulent period for the club, tobacco sponsorship was banned through Government legislation, which is still the case today.
Vale Dean Southwood
Guy Rees, Peter Herbert, Craig Bradbrook