The League of Friends was saddened to hear about the death of Professor Vincent Marks on November 6, 2023. Vincent was a committee member, chairman and latterly president of the Haslemere Hospital League of Friends.

Born in 1930, Vincent was a renowned international Bio Chemist, and an authority on insulin and hypoglycaemia. He was the star expert witness who helped to secure the conviction of British child killer Beverly Allitt and the acquittal of Claus von Bülow, the playboy lawyer originally convicted of killing his heiress wife by injecting her with insulin. 

She spent the last 27 years of her life in a coma. That court case was one of the 20th century’s most sensational and the first major US trial to be televised. 

But we knew Vincent as a retired NHS Physician, local resident and family man who wanted to continue to influence the delivery of health care locally. He was a very strong character and never averse to voicing his opinion. He loved writing long missives about topics he thought were very important to patients and doctors, which usually alluded to their decision-making or lack of! Vincent had a great sense of humour and spoke often of his family, making us smile when he said he had to “clean up his mess” or Averil his wife would be on his tail.

When he stepped down as our president in 2018, one of his last interventions was the setting up of a local Health Group. Vincent felt the town council should be more engaged in the hospital and health matters in general. 

Ian Doolittle, a local resident, took up the challenge of chairing the newly formed Haslemere Health Group. It was Vincent’s vision and the lobbying powers of the Haslemere Health Group which ensured stroke services were provided following treatment of an acute event.

A larger than life character, he will be missed. Our thoughts are with Averil and his family at this time.