Dr Peter Fleischl, who passed away at the age of 88 last week after a short illness, was described by leading Hawke's Bay surgeon Doug Knight as "an example to fifth-year medical students, house surgeons and registrars at Napier Hospital in the late 1960s".
Like so many in the medical fraternity Mr Knight remembered his late colleague's generosity and "amazing breadth of knowledge on endocrinology, cardiology and general medicine" as he carried out his ward rounds and outpatient clinics.
He said Dr Fleischl also had a remarkable memory when it came to the details of his patients - down to knowing where they lived, their families and even their family histories as well as their medical histories.
Hawke's Bay District Health Board chief executive Kevin Snee said the interest in health obviously ran in the blood of the Fleischl family as not only were Peter's sons John and Peter both doctors, his daughter Diana was a long-standing elected member of the District Health Board and her son Chris was a GP in Wairoa.
Dr Snee said a number of people had spoken to him of Peter Fleischl and the contribution he had made to the health sector especially diabetics patients as diabetes was of particular interest to him.
Another of his colleagues, Dr Michael Bostock former Hastings cardiologist, described Dr Fleischl as "the absolute essence of a perfect physician - he was kind, accommodating, understanding and sympathetic to patients."
Dr Fleischl was born in Austria and after carrying out medical training and took up a registrar's appointment in London. It was there he met Charmian, his wife-to-be, who was also a doctor.
In the mid-1950s they looked to venture to a new land, and a new life, in New Zealand.
He applied for a registrar post at Wellington and Dunedin Hospitals and journeyed out on the "Port Vindex, which suited him well as they were able to make the trip on a free passage arrangement - he was ship's surgeon during the voyage.
Dr Fleischl took on work at Dunedin Hospital, but before starting there had wanted to show Charmian two places he had heard were worth visiting - Tauranga and Napier.
He later wrote - "we stayed in Napier for two full days, visited colleagues like Sam Turner and Charles Crawford and one of the highlights for Charmian was, as we walked along Emerson Street around noon, we passed the National Cafe where the owner, Mr Nick Paxie, greeted us heartily and insisted we be his guests for lunch."
It became a friendship he enjoyed for years to come after eventually arriving in Hawke's Bay in 1956.
Dr Fleischl, Charmian and their first-born son John, then moved to the North Island after he took on a locum post at Porirua Hospital looking after psychogeriatric patients.
"We travelled to Wellington managing to get all our belongings into our car, and found that the hospital provided us with a pleasant old house with a vegetable garden ..." Dr Fleischl later wrote.
But shortly after starting in Porirua he was contacted by Mr Turner who suggested he should explore the opportunity of settling in Napier as "Dr Gilray was retiring and suitable rooms were available".
He took it on and agreed to take over the lease of Dr Gilray's rooms in Masson House in Dalton Street and paid him 100 for all the contents. In November 1956 he was appointed as Junior Physician at the hospital.
It was the start of a long association with Napier Hospital and was a role he once said "opened up things no end for me".
He worked at the hospital until 1983 when he resigned to take on a new post with the Intergovernmental Committee for Migration, which comes under the wing of the United Nations. Stationed in the Philippines, he specialised in treating infectious diseases and ran preventative health programmes.
Dr Fleischl's devotion to the welfare of others was typified by his final wishes. He requested a private service and burial and asked that in lieu of correspondence and flowers people make donations to the Napier branch of the New Zealand Red Cross.