Influential and respected family doctor Edward Ernest Cockayne died aged 80 on Friday 29 May peacefully at home.
Curious and adventurous, Dr Cockayne was passionate about his patients, teaching trainee doctors and pioneering ways of attracting GPs into west Suffolk. 
Born in Broken Cross, Macclesfield, Cheshire, in 1940, he grew up to love being outdoors, particularly gardening, long-distance walking and fishing. Educated at King’s School, Macclesfield, his parents Ernest and Sarah Cockayne, both of whom had worked in at the local psychiatric hospital, supported his dream to become a doctor. 
He studied medicine at Guy’s Hospital (1958-1963) where he met nurse Elizabeth who became his wife in 1964. 
Dr Cockayne worked at four hospitals around London before deciding to become a GP and taking up the post in Woolpit in 1965.
Over the next 33 years he worked tirelessly for his patients, holding to mantras such as ‘listen to the patient’ and ‘run toward your troubles’. He was witty, gruffly kind and dogmatic when puzzling out difficult diagnoses.
Dr Cockayne enjoyed rugby, playing for school, teaching hospital and eventually for Bury St Edmunds. He was a tower of strength to families when 18 members, supporters and players died in the air crash in March 1974. He was secretary at that time, and much later served as Club President.
When he retired he did a History of Medicine Diploma. In the next few years, together with Noel Stow, he set up Suffolk Medical History Society. They also co-authored two books, Stutter’s Casebook, a Junior Hospital Doctor 1839-41 published by Suffolk Record Society (St Edmundsbury Press: 2005) and An 18th Century Physician’s Handbook (Mac Slaytor: 2012). He expanded work by Dr van Zwanenburg to make a comprehensive record of the medical practitioners in previous centuries which is available at  www.suffolkmedicalbiographies.com. He wrote for journals about medical history.
Dr Cockayne was diagnosed with prostate cancer four years ago. He is survived by his beloved wife, Elizabeth and his devoted daughters Sarah, Frances, Claire and Isabel. He was loving grandpa to Laurie, Flora, Daisy, Rosie, Anna, Max, Billy, Tom and Eva.


Before he retired, he wrote a book about his experiences called An Apple a Day under the pseudonym Cornelius Slater (Headline Book Publishing: 1987), which is still handed to new doctors to in west Suffolk as an example of what caring for people in a country practice is like. Far-sighted as he was, he secured funding to build the current health centre in Woolpit, and developed and ran the trainee GP scheme at West Suffolk Hospital. Crucially in the 80s, when there were too few people wishing to train to be doctors, he created opportunities for overseas doctors from Germany, the Netherlands and South Africa to learn in Suffolk. This ensured that there were enough doctors to serve the community.
A long-distance walker, he completed paths across the world, including the UK, France, Italy and New Zealand. A keen gardener, he grew fruit and vegetables, and kept rare breed sheep.