Dr. Ronald Bayne was born on January 25, 1923, and became a pivotal figure in advancing care for older adults and geriatric medicine in Canada. Following in the footsteps of his father, Dr. Henry Douglas Bayne, Ronald graduated from McGill University’s medical school in 1947. After completing his internship at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal, he pursued advanced training at the New England Medical Centre in Boston (1950) and at the West Middlesex Hospital in England (1951-1955), where he worked with Dr. Marjory Warren, a leading pioneer in British geriatrics.
Bayne returned to Quebec in 1955, practicing as a general practitioner in Sherbrooke before moving to Montreal in 1959, where he became Chief of Medicine at Ste. Anne’s Hospital for veterans. His academic career flourished when he joined McGill’s Faculty of Medicine as a lecturer in psychiatry un Dr. Travis Duncey. In 1970, Dr. Bayne transitioned to McMaster University in Hamilton, becoming a professor of medicine, a role he held until his retirement in 1989.
A dedicated advocate for gerontology, Dr. Bayne co-authored a monograph on patient-directed care with sociologist Joseph Lella in 1986 and led the Canadian Association on Gerontology from 1983 to 1987. He was instrumental in founding the McMaster Office on Aging (1979), later known as the McMaster Centre for Gerontological Studies (1985), which merged with the Department of Health, Aging, and Society in 2006.
Dr. Bayne’s legacy includes innovative contributions such as the Assessment and Placement Service (APS), which laid the groundwork for Ontario’s Community Care and Access Centres, providing essential care for elderly and chronically ill populations. Dr. Ronald Bayne passed away on February 6, 2021, at the age of 97, leaving behind a lasting impact on the field of geriatric care and education.