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Leading plastic surgeon Graeme Blake, who gave his services freely to disfigured children in Nepal, has died at his Christchurch home. He was 69.
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Blake travelled eight times to Nepal, with his wife, Brenda, to do cleft lip and palate surgery in a remote clinic. Not only was the work voluntary, but Blake and others in the mainly Australian party contributed funds so patients could make the pilgrimage from their mountain homes to the clinic.
Brenda Blake says she and her husband came to love the place and the people and looked forward each year to going back. Her husband had always felt at home in the mountains, after being a Queen's Scout in his youth.
His favourite leisure pursuits included tramping, skiing, and fishing in the Southern Alps. The congregation at his funeral sang his favourite song, Climb Every Mountain.
Blake was born in Palmerston North but grew up mainly in Wellington, attending Kelburn Normal School and Wellington College. After his medical intermediate year at Victoria University, he studied medicine at Otago University from 1958 to 1961. He met Brenda, a fellow student, at Dunedin and they married in 1962. They had four children.
Blake completed his studies at Christchurch Hospital in 1962, then served there as a house...