Dr. Frank Porter Patterson was born in Vancouver on August 19, 1915. He attended the University of British Columbia, and received his M.D. from McGill University in 1940. Dr. Patterson served as an RCAF squadron leader during World War II. He became a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Canada in 1947 and a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons in 1948. In 1948, he joined the staff of Vancouver General Hospital and in 1951 became the first Chief of Orthopaedics at the University of British Columbia. Dr. Patterson served as Head of the Department of Surgery in the Faculty of Medicine at UBC, and Chief of Surgery at Vancouver General Hospital from 1976 to 1981. In 1981, he was named Professor Emeritus in the Department of Surgery at UBC. His other honours included being elected an Honorary Fellow of the British Orthopaedic Association and a Senior Member of the Canadian Medical Association. He was also awarded the Queens Canadian Silver Jubilee Medal and an honorary Doctor of Science degree from the University of British Columbia. Dr. Patterson died on February 18, 2002. His father, Dr. Frank Porter Patterson, Sr., was the first orthopaedic surgeon in British Columbia and practiced in Vancouver from 1919 to 1938. Dr. Patterson, Sr., was also active in politics and was elected leader of the Conservative Party of British Columbia in 1936, serving as Leader of the Opposition in the provincial legislature.