Blair Fearon was Professor Emeritus of the Department of Otolaryngology at the University of Toronto and retired senior surgeon in the Department of Otolaryngology at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto at the time of his death. Blair Fearon was a world-renowned pediatric otolaryngologist, teacher, and innovative thinker.

He was born January 26, 1917, in Farnham, Quebec. Tragically, his mother was killed in a horseback riding accident when he was but a few months old, and as an only child, he was raised by his grandmother in rural Nova Scotia. During high school, he lived with an uncle who was a general practitioner: it is thought that at that time lie became inspired to he a medical doctor. Graduating from Mount Allison University with a BA in 1940, he left Nova Scotia to study medicine at the University of Toronto. During World War II, he became a captain in the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps; he told me that the war ended before he saw active service.

In 1947, he married Joyce Doreen Ball, his wife of 44 years (predeceasing him in 1991), who worked as a nurse at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. They subsequently had three children: two daughters, Merrill, a French education specialist, and Judy, an early childhood education specialist: and a son, Blair, an ophthalmologist practicing in Toronto. Blair especially enjoyed fishing with his son, and he was an excellent amateur golfer, capturing a number of trophies. Hobbies included photography, woodworking, and model building. He always enjoyed traveling and was a faithful attendee at annual society meetings . He also collected stamps and coins, and with his wife, developed an interest in antiques.

In 1948, Blair was among the first graduates of the then new postgraduate training program in otolaryngology at the University of Toronto. From September 1948 to June 1949, he was enrolled in a research program in otolaryngology at the University of Toronto. He really completed his training formally, from his point of view, when he served as chief resident of the department of laryngology and bronchoesophagology at the graduate hospital of the University of Pennsylvania from July 1949 to July 1950. He was then appointed to the staff of otolaryngology at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto to begin what became a truly illustrious career.

Blair was an extremely skilled and observant pediatric endoscopist. In these days of telescopes and miniature TV cameras allowing simultaneous video recording even in the smallest of neonates, it is difficult to relate to the skill and art involved in making accurate observations monocularly down a 30-centimeter tube, 4 or 5 millimeters in diameter. He did this, and presented and subsequently published his findings. His writing style had a succinct, informative quality Ultimately, he authored over 70 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters.

For some inexplicable reason, he appeared to be known and honored more outside Canada than within. He held many offices in the senior American otolaryngology societies and served as president of the American BronchoEsophagological Association in 1966-1967, and of the American Laryngological Association in 1987-1988. He was awarded the Chevalier Jackson Award in 1976 and 1980. It never failed to amaze me. when I was traveling throughout Europe in 1971 on a fellowship, that lie frequently was the only "Toronto otolaryngologist" that my host would be aware of.

Subglottic stenosis and its management was of particular interest to him. His paper in 1966 drew particular attention to the role of endotracheal tubes in the pathogenesis of this condition. In the early 1970s, his research work with green monkeys (in collaboration with Dr Robin Cotton) laid the groundwork for the surgical management of this condition. He wrote many papers about the management of epiglottitis; he would be amazed that this condition is now a clinical rarity.

There are many aspects of this man that are remembered fondly by his colleagues. He was a fabulous teacher with a prodigious memory for past cases. In his prime, it was his habit on Saturday mornings to sit 2 or 3 hours, in the OR coffee room chain-smoking (before the days of smoke-free hospitals) recounting clinical story after clinical story to the resident staff to illustrate various clinical points. He was a terrifying man behind the wheel of his Chrysler LeBaron, as he took any attempt by others to pass him as a personal affront. He was invariably courteous and kind to those that worked with him. But he was frightfully intimidating if you took an opposing point of view regarding patient management.

Blair Fearon contributed mightily with his professionalism and academic orientation to establishing the credentials of what is now recognized as a subspecialty of pediatric otolaryngology. With his phenomenal clinical skills and innovative thinking, he contributed very significantly to the welfare of the children he managed that had very daunting otolaryngological problems.