DR James Oman Craig, who pioneered specialised treatment for children

with diabetes in the West of Scotland, has died, aged 77.

During the early 1950s, Dr Craig worked predominantly in Lanarkshire

single-handedly as a consultant paediatrician with an enormous workload

but nevertheless developed a service for children with diabetes

mellitus.

He published papers and two major textbooks on childhood diabetes and

became the first chairman -- later president -- of the Scottish Study

Group for the care of young diabetics.

Born in Ayr, Dr Craig was educated at Ayr Academy and gained a

scholarship to Lancing College in Sussex as an exhibitor in French and

English, from where he passed the university entrance examinations --

all by the age of 14.

After graduating in natural sciences from Cambridge, he qualified in

medicine at Edinburgh University in 1942, and spent six months training

at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children before joining the RAF as a

medical officer.

He returned to paediatrics in Edinburgh before being appointed a

consultant at the RHSC in Glasgow in 1951.

Dr Craig retired in 1982 and cared for his wife Vilma until her death

recently. He leaves a son.