In remembrance
In remembrance: Dr Timothy Xolani Stanton Freeth
26 September 2023Dear colleagues and students
It is with immense sadness that we inform you of the passing of our colleague, Dr Timothy Xolani Stanton Freeth. The 48-year-old Dr Freeth passed on due to unnatural causes on Wednesday, 13 September 2023.
Dr Freeth joined the University of Cape Town (UCT) on 1 April 2021 and was a lecturer in the Department of Medicine in the Faculty of Health Sciences. Most recently, he worked in the Groote Schuur Hospital Geriatric Clinic as a sessional medical officer since 2017 and as a clinical lecturer in the Ambucare Clinic.
He graduated with an MBChB from UCT in 2004 and was awarded the Isadore Jacob-Walz Prize for Family Medicine and Primary Health Care during his fourth year of study. After graduating, Dr Freeth was affiliated with the Department of Medicine for much of his career. He did his internship at Tygerberg Hospital and then worked at Site B Khayelitsha Community Health Centre and GF Jooste Hospital in Manenberg. He was a medical registrar at UCT from 2009 to 2013.
Dr Freeth will be remembered as a caring clinician with a vast knowledge of internal medicine. During the evening, he would read up about the conditions of the patients he had seen that day. He was a highly valued member of the Undergraduate Education Hub team in the Department of Medicine, making important contributions to UCT's teaching curriculum and programme redesign as well as student assessment methods. More importantly, he was an enthusiastic and compassionate teacher of medical students with whom he shared his knowledge generously. He modelled what it is to be a caring clinician and taught the values of social justice, equity and inclusion.
Dr Freeth is survived by his partner Brenda; children Buhle, Khulani, Thandile, Avethandwa, Qiniso and Nqobile; mother Jilly; father John; and sister Rebecca. The funeral service and thanksgiving for his life was held on Monday, 25 September 2023.
The university has been in contact with the Freeth family to offer support during this time of grief. We convey our heartfelt condolences to the family, friends and all who knew Dr Freeth.
Sincerely
The UCT Executive
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