Writer Psychiatrist-turned-musician, or musician-turned-psychiatrist — the sequence is of no moment posthumously — but Dr Aggrey Irons, who passed away on Saturday evening, is being celebrated as a quick-witted icon in the medical field, an advocate for the removal of the stigma around mental health, and a devoted friend, father, and colleague.

Irons, 74, served in the senior leadership of Bellevue Hospital for several years. He was also a past president of the Medical Association of Jamaica (MAJ), former chairman of the Jamaica Coalition for Tobacco Control, and a strong advocate for tobacco control and public health.

He is being mourned and celebrated across social spaces, with many sharing recollections of personal and professional encounters with the man who, in his heyday, was a member of the popular 50/50 band — made up entirely of medical doctors — and the former host of the radio programme Moods and Attitudes.