Dr Chisholm Stuart Ogg BSc, MB BS, MD FRCP (known as Chis) was one of the remarkable founder generation of physicians who took on the Cinderella specialty of nephrology, so named in 1960 at the creation of the International Society of Nephrology. It was the study of the physiology of the kidney, the  diseases of it  and their complications, the worst of which was death from renal failure. There were physicians who thought this was preferable to the crude, expensive, risky new treatments by dialysis or transplantation. The patients were mostly young and included children. It was stressful and created emotional challenges but strong bonds between the staff, the patients and their families. Chisholm was made for the role. He was an excellent doctor, pragmatic, an obsessional attender to detail, empathetic and eschewed formality and rank. He was selflessly conscientious and was loved and respected by his patients. The doctors and nurses were in awe of, and loyal to, the tall plain-speaking consultant with his quaint mannerisms, his grunting “umphs” and infectious chuckle.  They knew he would fight their corner. He was the quintessential “Guy’s man” – starting his medical career as a student in 1955 and retiring as a consultant in 1998. 

He was born in Wrotham, Kent;  propitiously in the “Garden of England”. His father George Ogg was a businessman and his mother, the homemaker, was Nancy who had spent her childhood in Australia. He spent his early years during the war in the comparative safety of the North Downs. He learned to mow a lawn and fix a vintage ATCO mower. In later life lawns and mowers became a particular speciality. Their local GP inspired his interest in nature and encouraged him to choose medicine as a career. After the war the family moved to Maidenhead where his love of the Thames began – fishing, boating and swimming. He was educated at Maidenhead Grammar School and entered Guy’s Medical School in 1955. He qualified in 1961 and did his house jobs including a spell in paediatrics. In his first renal posts at the Institute of Urology at St Peter’s, St Paul’s and St Philip’s Hospital he met Dr “Jo” Joekes, a an innovator who introduced haemodialysis  for acute renal failure in his hospital and pioneered percutaneous renal biopsy in the UK.  He returned to Guy’s as a registrar and later senior registrar where he encountered Stewart Cameron, the hugely energetic and scholarly consultant, and later Professor of Renal Medicine. Chisholm was appointed a Consultant Physician in Renal Medicine in April 1969. He and Stewart Cameron forged a lifelong partnership and built the Guy’s Renal Unit into a centre of excellence. Chisholm concentrated on the clinical service becoming Director in 1970. It was internationally admired and nascent nephrologists competed to get a Guy’s training post. There is a diaspora of distinguished Guy’ trainees influenced by the style and standards of Chisholm and Stewart Cameron. One, later a Regius Professor of Medicine said of him, “He was a natural clinician, the best I've ever worked with, who combined careful observation and uncanny intuition with deep knowledge of the literature and a talent for rigorous analysis.” During his early years as the Clinical Director the Unit had an outbreak of Hepatitis B which affected staff including Stewart Cameron , as well as patients. Chisholm bore a huge clinical and organisational burden during the outbreak; the storm was weathered. Later, in 1978,  he had a well-deserved break on sabbatical in Melbourne and  Wellington in New Zealand which refreshed him and allowed a little fly-fishing too. He was much angered by the enforced merger of Guy’s Hospital and St Thomas’ and argued strongly against it. The Guy’s Renal Unit was preserved. He retired in 1998 having served as a consultant for 29 years.

He married Valerie (always known as Gay) in 1959. They had met on a tennis court when she was 16 and shared a love of the Thames where he proposed. They had two children, a daughter who died in early childhood and a son Graham, a professor of dermatology and immunology in Oxford. Gay is a talented artist and photographer. She ran the family home, a haven for Chisholm from the demands of a London Teaching Hospital.

He wisely made a clean break retiring from medicine to enjoy his array of hobbies – fishing, birdwatching, bridge, music and above all gardening and propagating plants. I have an Abutilon, a gift from him. Their retirement home in the village of Long Wittenham in South Oxfordshire was ideal. It had a mature garden backing on to the Thames where their boat, Oglet,  was moored. Guests enjoyed  pre-dinner drinks aboard, while Chisholm steered and provided a commentary. The garden was  opened to the public under the National Gardens Scheme. He won an award for Britain’s Best Lawn, which made the national news. The straightness of the edges had apparently been achieved by manicure which caused much ribbing from friends recognising the Chis Ogg perfectionism. After a demanding professional life, he enjoyed nearly thirty years of shared fun in retirement with Gay, seven  years beyond a diamond wedding anniversary. He developed dementia which ran a mercifully short course. His life was celebrated in an affectionate and joyful memorial service in Dorchester Abbey on Wednesday 8th July 2026.

Professor Christopher Winearls FRCP