My friend John Wyn Owen, who has died aged 77, was an expert in public health who became director of NHS Wales and also worked in Australia, where he was for many years director general of the New South Wales state health department.
He was born in Bangor, Gwynedd, to Myfi (nee Hughes) and her husband, Idwal Wyn Owen, a telephone engineer. Educated at the Friars school in Bangor, he then went to St John’s College, Cambridge, where he gained a geography degree in 1964.
John then began work as a research assistant to the renowned public health researcher Walter Holland at St Thomas’ hospital in London. He moved from there to be the secretary of Glantawe hospital in Swansea (1967–70) and then divisional administrator at University Hospital Wales in Cardiff (1970–72), before returning to St Thomas’, first as assistant clerk (1972-74) and then as administrator (1974–79).
Switching into the private sector he took a job as executive director of a consultancy, United Medical Enterprises (1979-85), from where he was appointed director of NHS Wales. He held that post for nine years and over that time was a strong advocate of the concept of “health gain” – trying to promote wellness among the general population by taking account not just of medical factors but of the social and environmental context in which people live.
In 1993, the year before he was appointed CB, he emigrated to become director general of the New South Wales state health department in Sydney, Australia. During his time there he chaired various federal committees in New South Wales, and was involved in the early stages of the public health preparations for the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.
In 1997 he returned to the UK to become secretary of the Nuffield Trust, a public health thinktank. He retired from that job in 2005 and for the rest of his life lived in Cowbridge in the Vale of Glamorgan.
However, he continued to take an active interest in public health issues and was a member of the Bevan Commission, which provided independent advice on health care to the Welsh government.
A proud bilingual Welshman, he was also a founding fellow, in 2010, of the Learned Society of Wales, a body that aims to promote educational excellence. He was also its treasurer.
John is survived by his wife of more than 50 years, Elizabeth (nee Macfarlane), their son, Dafydd, daughter, Sian, and four grandchildren.
