November 5, 2025

From Care Provider to Care Receiver: Remembering Dr. George Lau’s Journey at St. Joe’s

Those that worked alongside Dr. George Lau at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton fondly remember him as a kind and generous pioneer of pediatric general surgery. For his wife of 49 years, Philoria, and their two children, Jonathan and Michelle, he was a humble husband and a loving father who adored literature, classical music, and caring for his patients, family and community.

“How do you sum up 95 years of life, with 50-plus years of medical service?” asks his son, Dr. Jonathan Lau, a pediatric orthopeadic surgeon at the Winnipeg Children’s Hospital. “What he did was his calling and his life’s passion, and he did it all with humility and integrity.”

Dr. Lau, alongside renowned Hamilton surgeon Dr. Gordon Cameron, helped build the city’s first pediatric general surgery service at St. Joe’s. (Note: The service has now moved to McMaster Children’s Hospital as the city’s central hub for pediatric care.)

And even though Dr. Lau also spent time treating other patients at other local hospitals, St. Joe’s always felt like home. He had a deep fondness and respect for the Sisters of St. Joseph and tried to lead as a servant of their healing mission.

Dr. Lau retired from St. Joe’s in 1999 and went on to assist with surgeries at Joseph Brant Hospital until 2017. Soon, his struggles with kidney disease brought him back to the hospital that had always held a place in his heart.

For seven years, St. Joe’s home dialysis care program provided Dr. Lau with the flexibility to live independently at home with those he loved the most and carry out his normal day-to-day activities with family, friends and former colleagues.

The Home Dialysis Program is based at St. Joe’s King Campus and provides equipment, training and care services that enable patients to dialyze in the comfort of their own homes rather than attending dialysis appointments at the Hospital several times per week for several hours at a time.

Dr. Lau passed away due to complications of his kidney disease on April 10, 2025, but his family never forgot about the exceptional care he received at St. Joe’s. They recognized the home dialysis care team with a St. Joe’s Miracle Worker nomination and a $20,000 gift to support the Peritoneal Dialysis Care program at King Campus. Each year, across four locations, St. Joe’s facilitates more than 75,000 lifesaving hemodialysis treatments to patients with kidney disease.

In addition to the family’s $20,000 gift, Dr. Lau’s son has matched the amount with his own personal donation, and his widow Philoria has also contributed a $10,000 general donation to St. Joe’s.

“The care he received at St. Joe’s was impeccable. The dialysis care team at King Campus felt like family to us, and we treated them as such,” said Jonathan. “It’s nice to know we can give back after all that St. Joe’s has given us and all that it gave my dad during his 50-year career.”