Meyer John Lange, known as ‘Nick’, was a consultant surgeon at New End and Royal Free hospitals, London. He was born on 5 August 1912 in Worcester, South Africa, the second son of Sally Lange, a government contractor, and Sarah née Schur. His older brother also became a doctor. Nick studied at Worcester Boys High School and the University of Cape Town, before going to England to Guy’s Hospital, where he qualified in 1935. After junior posts he joined the RAF at the outbreak of the Second World War, and rose to the rank of squadron leader. He became a consultant surgeon at New End Hospital, Hampstead, and later at the Royal Free Hospital. He was a specialist in the surgery of the thyroid gland, being influenced by Sir Geoffrey Keynes and by Sir Heneage Ogilvie, who had been on the staff of Hampstead General Hospital before transferring to Guy’s Hospital. At New End he was a colleague of the charismatic John (Jack) Piercy, who had been born in Canada, and who had built up an endocrine unit, created by the London County Council, which was to become internationally famous. Nick published extensively on thyroid surgery and myasthenia gravis. He was a quiet, modest but charming colleague, and a meticulous and excellent surgeon – a surgeon’s surgeon. He married a Miss Giles in 1945 and they had one son and one daughter, who studied medicine at Guy’s. Nick Lange died on 27 November 2005.