Dr Ian Painter was admired by friends, not just for his professional achievements, but for his warmth, pragmatism, honesty, and wicked sense of humour. Photo: Supplied

IAN PAINTER 19452014

Dr Ian Painter was an anaesthetist and a brilliant pain physician, working in one of the most challenging areas of medicine. His dedication, professionalism and commitment made a difference to many people's lives in both Australia and Europe.

When he began to practice pain medicine in the late seventies, it was a relatively new speciality and he was one of the first doctors in Australia to do so. Then, as now, pain medicine presents a variety of challenges for both patient and clinician.

For the patient, there are few things more debilitating than chronic unrelieved pain. Often, despite all measures and interventions, the patient's pain continues. To share this journey with a patient who is suffering such terrible pain requires patience, reassurance and honesty. Not every doctor is capable of this but Painter excelled at it.

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Ian Miller Painter was born in in the shadow of World War II in Annandale on April 3, 1945, the son of Doug Painter and his wife Madge (nee Kernohan). He was the eldest of three, and had a younger brother, Robert, and a younger sister, Heather.

Doug was irreversibly affected by his experiences in the war and suffered prolonged periods of ill health, which had a lasting impact on family life. Money was often scarce and Madge worked hard to look after Doug and the children and keep the family together.

In the economic and family stress of those times Ian's childhood was marked by adversity, and that might well have daunted someone else. However by developing an early strength of character, he learned how to face difficult situations with positivity and courage. It was something which he would do for the rest of his life.

As a child, Ian spent a lot of time with his uncle in Otford, then a small coal mining village in the Northern Illawarra. This was a happy place for him, growing up in the freedom of the Australian bush, and he flourished there.

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Obituary: Pioneering pain medicine specialist Dr Ian Painter dies