Well-known St. John's doctor and businessman Michael Bense has died.
Bense, 70, passed away Tuesday after a short battle with cancer.
A native of South Africa, Bense came to Newfoundland in 1971, a year after graduating from Pretoria University Medical School. He completed a residency in ophthalmology at Dalhousie University in Halifax in 1984, and went on to open this province's first laser eye surgery clinic in St. John's.
Bense was chief of ophthalmology at the Health Sciences Centre for a period of time, and served on the board for the Canadian Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery. He performed more than 30,000 eye surgeries over the course of his career.
Bense also obtained certifications in medical aesthetic procedures like Botox injection and liposuction, and opened Bense Surgi-Spa, a medical aesthetics clinic, in 2000.
Bense leaves his wife, Sharon; three children, and five grandchildren.
His funeral will take place at St. Pius X church in St. John's on Monday at 1:15.
Donations in Bense's memory are being accepted at Daffodil Place and the Dr. H. Bliss Murphy Cancer Centre.
