IN MEMORIAM

Robert Cecil York Norton

Robert Cecil York Norton the eminent Austra- lian orthodontist and dental leader passed away suddenly Dec. 23, 1992, at the age of 70.

Bob was truly an international figure, with many friends all over the world. He spent a great deal of time with colleagues from the United States and actually studied here i n 1948 wiih postgraduate training and the Tweed course. He then regularly revisited the United States and his many friends.

To all who knew him, Bob was the all-around man. He was a superb sportsman in cricket and baseball, achieving top honors and maintaining a high interest in this. Actually in high school, he was the champion high jumper. He approached his dental career and organized dentistry with the same enthusiasm and competitiveness to achieve the very best. He graduated from dentistry in 1944 and completed his master's degree in orthodontics in 1946. He associated with the eminent Arthur Thornton-Taylor, one of the founding fathers of Australian orthodontics. Dr. Thornton-Taylor had actually been young Bob's orthodontist. He estab- lished his own practice in 1952, associated with Jim Mackie and later, Jim Hawkins, Ted Peel, and Paul Taylor. This association continued, making it the longest orthodontic practice association in the his- tory of Australian orthodontics. It is interesting to note that when the group finally moved to 183 Macquarie St. in Sydney, this was coincidentally the same address as his father's dental practice!

Dr. Norton occupied just about every position in organized dentistry that was possible, i.e., he was a past president of the Australian Dental Associa- tion New South Wales Branch, the Australian Den- tal Association, the Royal Australian College of Dental Surgeons, and the International College of Dentists, just to name a few. He was also past- president of the Australian Society of Orthodon- tists and served diligently on a number of commit- tees. He was quite active on the lecture circuit and also was responsible for bringing over a large num- ber of American orthodontists to share experiences and knowledge. It is difficult to give sufficient credit to his immense organizational ability. Even in the field of research, he did much to stimulate leaders in this area. He was the Foundation Chair- man for the Australian Dental Research and Edu- cation Trust and Past Chairman of the Australian Society of Orthodontists Foundation for Research and Education. He was also active as the Founda-

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Robert C.Y. Norton

tion Chairman of the Dental Assistants Training Courses.

For 24 years he was a member of the Dental Board of New South Wales and was active chair- man part of the time. His work over a number of years with the FDI was recognized with the Award of Merit in 1980. Dr. Norton had a number of honorary memberships conferred (Australian Soci- ety of Orthodontists, 1974; Korean Dental Associ- ation 1967; American Dental Association, 1969; Taiwan Association, 1970).

As one who knew Bob Norton personally, I can, along with his associates, comment that, as Jim Mackie says, "He never entered the society nor an association wondering what he would gain, but rather what he might do to advance the organiza- tional committee in which he was involved. He never 'left it to others,'" As Dr. Mackie comments in his tribute, "He was the right man in the right place at the right time; he always arrived on-time, and expected a program to be run on-time; he was efficient and extremely tolerant."

With his total dedication to dentistry and orth- odontics, the question might be asked, what about family? Here too, as his wife Betty recently wrote, Bob Norton always had time and was totally sup- portive. Bob and Betty were married for 45 years and she provided staunch support to this extraor- dinarily talented orthodontist. Their two children, Diana and David, are very close and have spent much time with their parents throughout life.

Dr. Mackie finishes his tribute to Bob Norton by quoting Longfellow:

Lives of great men all remind us We can make our lives sublime, And departing, leave behind us Footprints on the sands of time.

T.M. Graber, DMD, MSD, PhD, Odont. Dr. hc, DSc