Verney Cable was born in Wellington in 1908, the elder son of electrical engineer, Matthew, and his wife Elsie. He received his schooling at Kilbirnie School, Wellington College, and at Waitaki Boys’ High School before entering the Otago Medical School.

He had an outstanding undergraduate record, topping his class in anatomy, passing with distinction and he was awarded the Scott Memorial Medal. He also won the Christie Medal in applied anatomy. Later in the course he was awarded the Graduates’ Association Medal in clinical medicine, the Batchelor Memorial Medal in obstetrics and gynaecology, and the Marjorie McCallum Medal.

He did his final year at Wellington Hospital graduating MB ChB in 1932. He was awarded a travelling scholarship in medicine. After a brief locum at Masterton Hospital, he went back to Dunedin to be Anatomy Demonstrator.

He returned to Wellington Hospital for two house surgeon years and was appointed Medical Registrar in 1935. In May 1935, he passed the MD examinations and decided to leave Wellington Hospital to seek further training in England.

Soon after arriving in London he was appointed to the house staff of the City of London Hospital for Diseases of the Heart and Lungs at Victoria Park. Whilst there, he passed the London MRCP. In 1938, he was appointed sole RMO at the National Heart Hospital. He might have stayed in England but for the war, and in late 1940 he returned to New Zealand with wife Pat and their first child to the position of Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, Otago Medical School, under the newly arrived Professor Horace Smirk.

Verney remained in this post for two years and then enlisted with the army. He served in Egypt and in Italy, and by 1945 was Lieutenant-Colonel, OC Medical Division 2NZ General Hospital.

In March 1946, he took up the appointment of Resident Physician, Wellington Hospital, a position in which he remained until his retirement in 1974. In this role, Verney had control over a majority of the medical beds and he quickly established a reputation as an excellent clinician. He passed the MRACP examinations in 1952 and was awarded the FRACP in 1958.

He was responsible for a number of innovations including the undertaking of the first cardiac catheterisations in Wellington (1951–1953) and he performed the first haemodialysis procedure in Australasia in 1958. He spent 6 months at the Massachusetts General Hospital in 1954 as Fulbright Lecturer in Medicine, Harvard University.

Verney was heavily involved in the education of student nurses throughout his career at Wellington Hospital. In 1960, he published the outstanding book Principles of Medicine – an integrated textbook for nurses. This was to be used by nurses throughout New Zealand and beyond for a number of years. Verney kept the book up-to-date and published four subsequent editions, the last in 1972.

Verney was a pioneer, an innovator, and a teacher who inspired generations of students, colleagues and friends to always question conventional wisdom and look beyond the near horizon. He had a somewhat acerbic manner and was intolerant of incompetence, but he commanded respect from his hospital colleagues.

After retiring from Wellington Hospital, Verney joined the staff of Silverstream Hospital as visiting physician. He was Medical Superintendent there in 1979 and finally retired in 1982.

He developed an interest in Japan and the Japanese language from the late 1950s and was President of the NZ Japan Society 1965–1968. Indeed, he remained mentally active throughout his life. In the 1970s, he enrolled as an extramural student at Massey University and graduated BA in 1981, majoring in history.

Pat, his dear wife of 69 years, died in 2004. Verney died at Dannevirke on March 15, and is survived by a son and two daughters.