John Stanislaus Kenefick was a consultant surgeon at Barnet General Hospital. He was born in Cork, Ireland, on 10 February 1937, the son of Thomas Kenefick, a merchant, and Margaret Kenefick. He was educated at Presentation Brothers College in Cork, and then studied medicine at University College, Cork. He gained the Ainsworth scholarship and qualified in 1960 with honours in anatomy, pathology and surgery. He held posts at St Finbarr's Hospital, Cork, and then at North Middlesex Hospital, London. He was a senior registrar at the Royal Free Hospital, and then, in 1975, he was appointed to his consultant post at Barnet. He was also a consultant surgeon to the Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth in Swiss Cottage. He retired in January 1995. He wrote on a range of topics, including carcinoma of the duodenum, the measurement of interpretation of blood viscosity, and hepatoma. In 1969 he married Erica Anne Lucas. They had four children - Nicholas, Timothy, Susannah and Elizabeth. He died on 14 September 2011, aged 74.