Yours is the cloth, mine is the hand that sews time
His is the force that lies within
His is the fire, all the warmth we can find
He is a feather in the wind, oh
All of our love, all of our love to you

Word can never express the loss of the legend like Dr R.D.Lele.

Dr R.D.Lele who passed away on 24 June 2022 at the age of 94 years was universally known as a father figure of medicine of India and single-handedly pitchforked India into the global world of Nuclear Medicine. He has worn many hats during his long tenure as a doctor - general physician, nuclear medicine physician, administrator and writer and how well he excelled them in all!

He was an amazing teacher and we students must consider ourselves extremely privileged to be trained under him. As a teacher he always told us” Think like a Physician first “, look at the history, take history properly and finally look into the images.. These were the frequent words which constantly echoed in the department when he came to teach us. As a teacher his constant endeavor was to bring out the best in his students, which he did with utmost ease

What a great orator he was! His talks were the most sort after in conferences & CMEs and the wit and humor which was blended with the scientific content made us glued to our seats, which was an unforgettable experience !

Had known him for about 30 years and another amazing fact which I must share with all of you is the way he attended conferences, both national and international… he will be right in the first row, jotting down points , asking questions to the speakers when we so called youngsters were fighting jet lag or dozing off

RD sir was an amazing writer and the number of books (let alone the articles he wrote) he has published(not just about Nuclear Medicine, but also on subjects like Computers in Nuclear Medicine, Medicine and Law, Clinical Science and clinical research, Ayurveda and modern medicine, Homeopathy and modern medicine, rural reconstruction and health, History of Medicine in India) is a testimony to his brilliant writing and creative skills

He was a brilliant administrator and in his own way was able to elicit the best out of all the doctors and other para medical staff and am sure many consultants in J J hospital, Jaslok and Lilawati hospital will swear by it

Another aspect of R D sir which I am aware off due to our close relationship is his fondness of sports, especially cricket. He had an amazing knowledge of this game like Medicine and we used discuss in length about this sport.

Dr R D Lele had the honor of starting the first private Nuclear Medicine department in our country in Jaslok hospital, Mumbai. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan, third highest civilian honour of India by the President of India, in 1992 apart from various other awards which included 1st recipient of Gifted Teacher Award (from the Association of Physicians of India) in 1991, Dhanvantari Award (from the Governor of Maharashtra State) in 1997 and  Homi Bhabha Lifetime Achievement Award (from the Indian Nuclear Society) in 2008

All of us--- his students, colleagues, friends, are so fortunate to know this extraordinary gentleman. Sir …. We will miss you a lot … we all know that the light of Nuclear Medicine which shone so brightly till now has been doused, but you have handed over this flame to so many youngsters in this country who are taking this to high levels.

You will always remain in our hearts Sir.