Archiater Risto Pelkonen has died. Photo: Heikki Saukkomaa / Lehtikuva
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Risto Pelkonen, Finland’s former archiater and one of the country’s most recognisable medical figures, has died at the age of 94. The Finnish Medical Association and the medical society Duodecim confirmed his death on Tuesday after a short illness.
Pelkonen was born in Iisalmi in 1931 and grew up in Helsinki, where he later built his career. His parents both worked in medicine: his father Erkki, a gynaecologist, was killed during the war in 1941, while his mother Aune was a surgical nurse.
He studied medicine at the University of Helsinki, graduating as a physician in 1957 and defending his doctorate in 1963. He specialised in internal medicine and later endocrinology. His clinical career spanned more than three decades at Helsinki University Central Hospital, where he became head of department in 1981 and served until 1994.
In 1995, president Martti Ahtisaari appointed Pelkonen as Finland’s archiater, the highest honorary title granted to a physician. Only one archiater serves at a time. Pelkonen held the position until his death, becoming the second-longest serving archiater in Finland’s history after paediatric pioneer Arvo Ylppö.
Pelkonen also worked as chief physician at the insurance company Varma and was a member of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters from 1992. In 2021, president Sauli Niinistö awarded him the Grand Cross of the Order of the Lion of Finland.
Over more than 70 years in medicine, Pelkonen treated patients, trained doctors, and contributed to public debate. He became known for addressing not only clinical issues but also broader questions of equality, social justice, and the environment.
In interviews he spoke against excluding undocumented migrants from healthcare, warned of the risks of loneliness among older people, and stressed the responsibility of citizens to care for one another. “Without love nothing works. No one can escape this right and duty,” he told Yle in 2014.
He lived through four pandemics: the Asian flu of 1957–58, the Hong Kong flu a decade later, swine flu in 2009, and COVID-19. He described the coronavirus outbreak as a warning about human treatment of nature. “If we continue to exploit nature, we will face serious consequences,” he said in 2021.
Beyond medicine, Pelkonen valued art, poetry, and music. Well into his nineties he kept active through daily walks, berry-picking, and mushroom foraging. He also gave his name to the Pelkonen Prize, awarded annually by the Tampere Medical Society since 2007 to doctors who combine knowledge, skill, and humanity in their work.
Pelkonen is survived by his wife Kristiina Taivainen, their three children, grandchildren, and a great-grandchild.
HT
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Source: www.helsinkitimes.fi
