The death of renowned cancer surgeon and researcher Professor Chris O'Brien is being mourned as "a huge loss" for Australia. Leave your condolences for Professor O'Brien by leaving a message below.
A state funeral will be held for Prof O'Brien, the famous face of television's RPA series who lost his own battle with brain cancer last week in Sydney's Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.
His wife Gail, his children Adam, Juliette and James and other close family members were by his side.
His passing prompted a spontaneous outpouring of love and admiration.
"I believe Chris O'Brien has been a truly exceptional Australian," Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said on Friday.
Fellow surgeon Charlie Teo said Prof O'Brien "epitomised what a doctor ought to be like".
"He was a great gold standard by which doctors judge themselves," Dr Teo told ABC Radio.
In April, at the launch of the RPA's new cancer centre to which Prof O'Brien devoted most of his final years, Mr Rudd said: "I've come to respect him deeply, to admire him deeply, to love him deeply as a first-class human being."
Prof O'Brien's humanity and good humour endeared him to patients at the hospital and to the viewers of the real-life dramas in the long-running medical reality program RPA.
Prof O'Brien's enduring legacy will be the Lifehouse At RPA cancer treatment centre. Its construction begins at the end of 2009.
Australia's chief medical officer, Professor Jim Bishop, said Prof O'Brien matched in reality the personality he displayed on the RPA television program.
"He was very engaging and friendly," Prof Bishop, who helped found the Sydney Cancer Centre with Prof O'Brien in 1996, told ABC Radio.
"He was so courageous to continue the campaign (after becoming ill), to lobby, to work for fellow patients," Mr Swan said.
"It says so much about the character of Chris O'Brien and the legacy he has left this country."
