Sad passing of former Derry surgeon Dr Kanwar Panesar

Retired hospital consultant Dr Kanwarjit Singh Panesar MB LRCP FRCS FRCS Ed O.B.E. will be remembered as a 'great family doctor that did so much for the people of Derry'.

Dr Panesar passed away on Wednesday, May 14, at Derry's Altnagelvin Hospital.

A death notice states that Mr Panesar was the 'beloved husband of Iqbal, loving father of Deshpal and Tej, cherished father-in-law of Baljit and Nadia and devoted grandfather of Inés'.

Paying tribute on X (formally Twitter), his son Deshpal Panesar KC said: "Passed away peacefully on the morning of May 15, in a hospital he helped build, looked after by doctors he helped train, in a city to whose health he had tended to for 40 years. Much missed."

He worked as a specialist in children's surgery at Altnagelvin Hospital for over 30 years and has been heavily involved in community work since coming to Derry.

Mr Panesar was born in India in 1941 and moved to London before coming to Northern Ireland in the mid 1970's.

He first became a consultant at Altnagelvin in 1975 and stayed there until retiring several years ago. He also helped found the North West Independent Clinic in Ballykelly.

Mr Panesar founded the Northern Ireland Sikh Association and also served as Chairman of the Parent Teacher Association.

He was made an OBE in 2004 and has also been appointed to a fellowship of the British Medical Association.

In 2017 the former surgeon said that he was 'honoured and surprised' at being named as 'AGE Concern's North West Pensioner of the Year'.

Tributes have since flooded in for Mr Panesar on social media, where people have described him as being a 'a great surgeon' and someone 'who helped many to recover from serious illness'.

Another person wrote that Mr Panesar was a 'highly skilled surgeon and world consultant in his life who would advise on very difficult operations. Surgeons would ask his advice literally when operating on people in live time from all over the world. He was a genuine gentleman and scholar and family friend for years. They don't make people like this any longer'.

Everyone are welcome to pay their respects to Mr Panesar at W J O’Brien & Son’s Funeral Home, 110 Clooney Road, Eglinton, BT47 3PU, on Wednesday, May 28 2025 from 6.00pm – 8.00pm and also on Thursday, May 29 in the Derry Gurdwara, Simpsons Brae BT476DL, from 11.30am - 1.00pm. 

Cremation service will take place in Antrim and Newtownabbey Crematorium, Doagh Road, Newtownabbey, BT36 5BU, at 3.00pm. Funeral service at the Derry Gurdwara from 6.00pm onwards.