Neil Citron was a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at St Helier Hospital, Sutton, Surrey. He was born on 22 February 1951 in Cape Town, South Africa, the son of Samuel, an anaesthetist, and his wife Dorothy Grace née Lurie. After attending William Ellis Grammar School in Highgate, London he qualified MB Bchir in 1975 from Trinity College, Cambridge and University College Hospital, London. He won the College's Hallet prize and completed his Mchir on chondrocyte generation from stem cells at Cambridge in 1985. Orthopaedic training continued at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in Stanmore, where he was senior registrar and he also studied surgery of the hand in Strasbourg. Appointed consultant orthopaedic surgeon to St Helier Hospital, he remained there for 20 years. It was said of him that he was both creative and meticulous and was constantly attempting to improve his practice. He published widely and enjoyed teaching and mentoring students and registrars. His interests included playing the violin and tennis and he was also chair of an Israeli hospital that treated all patients regardless of ethnic origin. He died from melanoma on 26 March 2011 aged 60 years, survived by his wife, Myriam and three daughters.