heavy workload and helped generations of foreign neurological trainees and their families adapt to North American ways. They had 4 children, moulded by their happy home life. Although Robb never seemed quite certain about the role of women in medicine, the eventual addition to the family of a physician daughter-in-law seemed to tilt the scales in a favourable direction. Sociable and friendly, a droll raconteur, Robb was a wonderful host.

(Above) Preston Robb speaking with a patient, summer 1973. (Right) Dr. Robb with the Neuro Nurses in 1992.

    In 1982 Robb was made Professor Emeritus of Neurology at McGill. He had always said that he did not want to be under-foot when he retired as Neurologist-in-Chief. True to his word upon retirement he moved to Lyn, Ontario

where he embarked on a second, highly successful, career as Chairman of the Board of the family company and at last had time to enjoy his hobbies of tree farming and wood carving.

During the long and satisfying years of our collaboration I came to appreciate deeply two attitudes that set Preston Robb apart. The first was his desire to understand the cultural and emotional background of his patients, often so different from his own. This, he sensed, determined their reaction to neurological disability in themselves and in their loved ones. The second was his insistence that the physician do everything possible to create an environment where patients and families were able to maintain their dignity while coping with the dreadful hurdles that life placed in their path.

Preston Robb died at the age of ninety after a brief illness. He was in full possession of his faculties to the end and gave a remarkable address after receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Montreal Neurological Institute, just a week earlier.

6

Next è