Born on 8 March 1921 in Melbourne, Ken was educated at St Thomas’ Grammar School and Scotch College and studied medicine at the University of Melbourne, graduating in 1943.
In 1947, after gaining a Diploma of Ophthalmology, Ken was appointed Resident Medical Superintendent at the Eye and Ear Hospital in Melbourne. With his appointment, a new era opened for the old Hospital. These were the days when a group of three — the Medical Superintendent, Matron and Manager — ran a public hospital. They were responsible to a semi-autonomous board of management and worked on a shoestring budget. The commander-in-chief was usually the Medical Superintendent, occasionally the Matron, but never the Manager. Ken was very much in charge, and no function of the Hospital was too remote to escape his attention. A small man, dressed informally (sometimes even in overalls), with prominent eyebrows and a penetrating gaze, he was the first contact every new resident doctor had with the Hospital. He was clearly a man of enormous energy and organising ability, dedicated to the revival of the old Hospital and looking for people to help him do it.
