James Baird was a cardiothoracic surgeon in Wellington. He was born on 24 January 1922 in Hastings, New Zealand, the son of Hugh William Charles Baird, a director of a drapery company, and Jeanie Aiton Baird née Aitken. He was educated at Mohora School in Hastings and then Wellington College. He went on to study medicine at Otago University in Dunedin, qualifying in 1945. He was a house surgeon and a surgical registrar at Palmerston North Hospital, where he was introduced to thoracic surgery by David Mitchell. In 1949 Baird went to England, where he worked as a registrar at Essex County Hospital, Colchester. He then gained a registrar appointment at Brompton and Guy's hospitals, under Sir Russell (later Lord) Brock and O S Tubbs. He gained his FRCS in 1949. In November 1952 he returned to New Zealand, as the first full-time cardiothoracic surgeon at Wellington Hospital. He also contributed to the regional thoracic surgery service, holding regular clinics in Palmerston North, Wanganui, Napier and Gisborne. In 1960 he travelled to England and the USA to study new developments in thoracic and cardiac surgery, visiting the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit and the Mayo Clinic in Rochester. Baird was an examiner in cardiothoracic surgery for the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, chairman of the division of surgery of Wellington hospitals from 1974, and an executive member and then chairman of the Wellington Hospital medical staff committee. With colleagues, he was instrumental in the establishment of the Wellington Clinical School. He was the first president of the Thoracic Society of New Zealand. He retired in 1982 and moved to Hawke's Bay. He learnt Maori, and was interested in genealogy, history, photography and gardening. In 1968 he married Peggy Grant. They had three sons and a daughter. James Baird died in Hastings on 10 July 2003, aged 81. He was survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter. One son predeceased him.