The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Mary Slessor Foundation’s Dr Lawrie Mitchell dies
Dundee-born doctor Lawrie Mitchell, who set up and ran the Mary Slessor Foundation, has died in Portugal at the age of 84.
Born in November 1935 in Dundee, Dr Mitchell studied medicine at St Andrews University where he met his first wife Pat, with whom he had four children.
After graduating, he emigrated to Canada where he became head of the A&E department at Riverside Hospital in Ottawa.
In 1975, he returned to Dundee , settling in Monikie, and spent his working life abroad on a variety of short-term contracts, from the oil to the paper industry.
He carried out stints in Saudi Arabia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Georgia, the Caribbean and West Africa. In 1994, he settled in the Nigerian city of Calabar where he met his second wife, Eme.
He spent time as the ship doctor on the QE2 – winning the ship’s table tennis trophy – and was the doctor on the 1980 movie The Curse of King Tut’s Tomb, starring Eva Marie Saint, Harry Andrews and Tom Baker.
He worked as a doctor for the United Nations during the Chad civil war and was responsible for medical care in a refugee camp of 40,000 people.
In 2000, he set up the Mary Slessor Foundation, inspired by the work of the Dundee missionary of the same name.
Based in Akpap Okoyong – the village Slessor called home for the last 40 years of her life – the charity operated a clinic; palm oil processing plant; and joinery, welding and fabric design centres.
The charity provided medical care and employment opportunities for a community several thousand strong in the remote Nigerian jungle.
In 2008, Dr Mitchell received the MBE for his services to the health and wellbeing of the people of West Africa.
As a young man Dr
Mitchell represented his school and university at both rugby and cricket, and played league table tennis in Dundee.
He was a Dundee United fan but his first love was cricket and he attended many of the summer tests at Lord’s.
Two of his most famous patients were Geoffrey Boycott and James Herriot when he was a locum in Yorkshire.
He and Eme retired to Portugal in 2007.
Whether in Nigeria, Dundee or Portugal, he was fond of discussing politics over his “sundowner” beers, and kept in touch with hundreds of past patients, many of whom continued to seek out his medical advice.
An ambassador for Dundee, he was always proud to tell people about his Scottish roots.
He is survived by his second wife Eme, his children Gary, Neil, Sean and Shionagh, and his five grandchildren , Kara , Lyndsay, Kate, Tessa and Ena.