Mitchell Notaras was a consultant in colorectal surgery at Barnet General Hospital, London. He was born on 26 March 1933 in the town of Grafton, New South Wales, Australia. His father, Anthony Notaras, and mother, Anthea Notaras née Megaloconomos, were Greek immigrants from the island of Kythera. There were five children, including Mitchell and Angelo, his twin brother. At the age of 16 Notaras was accepted to read medicine at Sydney University Medical School. His studies were supported by a Commonwealth Government scholarship, an act of generosity he never forgot. Nor did he forget the stimulus, help and teaching he received during his holidays from local doctors Mulhearn, Harris and Holland at Grafton Base Hospital. Once qualified, he spent two years working at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital as a junior and senior resident medical officer, before travelling to the UK to further his surgical training. Working his passage to the UK as a ship's doctor on a cargo boat, he remembered receiving a stipend of a shilling a month. Starting work at the Hammersmith Hospital, he obtained his FRCS at the Royal Colleges of England and Edinburgh, before moving to St Mark's as a research assistant. Here he was supervised by Alan Parks, Nigel Porter and Alan Young, mainly studying the problems of anal incontinence. This post led to his appointment as resident surgical officer at St Mark's, where he worked for one year under Sir Clifford Naunton Morgan, O V Lloyd-Morgan, Henry Thompson, Hugh Lockhart-Mummery and Ian Todd. He subsequently retained his links with St Mark's as a member of the St Mark's Hospital Association. At this stage Notaras was firmly committed to a career in colo-rectal surgery and, after a post as resident assistant surgeon at UCH, took up a consultant appointment in colo-rectal surgery at Barnet General Hospital. He became in much demand as a visiting professor in centres abroad and, whilst at heart an innovator, he was also quick to recognise worthwhile new techniques that could be applied back in the UK. He was the first to describe a new (subcutaneous) approach to lateral internal anal sphincterotomy, and made significant contributions to the treatment of rectal prolapse, as well as popularising the use of mesh repairs of hernia under local anaesthesia. He enjoyed writing and teaching, as evidenced by his chapters in Rodney Maingot's *Abdominal operations*, Robb and Smith's *Operative surgery* and Nyhus's *Hernia surgery*. He was a fellow of the American College of Surgeons. As a surgeon he was swift, certain and skilful. He was much admired by those who worked with him as much for his dexterity as for his calm and unflappable nature. He was an extremely generous man who helped many others. In particular he never forgot his Australian roots (nor lost the accent) and the fact that his career had been enabled by the Commonwealth scholarship mentioned above. He repaid this generosity in 2003 by establishing a three-year scholarship in perpetuity at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital Sydney. (The scholarship allows young Australian post fellowship surgeons to spend a year in research at the University of Sydney, a year in an approved unit of excellence abroad and a year as a senior registrar at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.) In his later years he established, with others, a company called Abgene, which 'specialised in the manufacture of molecular biological reagents, as well as collaborating with universities and industrial partners in research into gene and DNA technology'. In retirement he frequently returned to Australia to visit his family. Whilst there he and his brother restored the heritage listed Saraton (Notaras spelt backwards) Theatre in Grafton. He also returned to Kythera, the Greek island that was his ancestral home. There he rebuilt his grandparents' old house, spending many holidays on the island with his own family and always contributing generously to the local community. It was on Kythera at the house where his father was born that he died suddenly and peacefully on 30 July 2011 aged 78. He was survived by his wife Bente and two sons, as well as three daughters from a previous marriage.