Victor Ariyaratnam Benjamin was a general practitioner in Goodooga, New South Wales, Australia. He was born in Jaffna in what was then Ceylon, the son of Charles Ariyanayagam Benjamin, a railway clerk and later station master, and Catherine Rose Gnanatheraviam Benjamin née Asirwatham, the daughter of a postmaster. His two younger brothers, Robert Arulnayagam and Frederick Arumanayagam, also studied medicine and became fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons. Benjamin was educated at St John's College, an Anglican school, and then went on to study medicine at Colombo Medical School. After qualifying in 1952, he was a demonstrator in pathology in the faculty of medicine, Colombo and then held senior house officer posts, also in Colombo. In 1958 he went to the UK, where he worked at St Charles' Hospital, London. He gained his FRCS in 1959. He stated that during his training he was greatly influenced by Charles Anthony Jackson, a thoracic surgeon at St Charles', and P R Anthonis, senior surgeon at the General Hospital, Colombo. In 1959 Benjamin returned to Ceylon, where he worked as a consultant surgeon in hospitals in Jaffna, Trincomalee, Batticaloa, Colombo and back in Jaffna. He was president of the Jaffna Medical Association from 1970 and 1971, and during the same period was on the council of the Ceylon Medical Association. From 1978 to 1979 he was professor of surgery at the newly-established Jaffna Medical School. He took early retirement from the Department of Health in Sri Lanka and worked as a consultant surgeon in Yola, Nigeria. He was subsequently head of the department of surgery at Fiji Medical School. In February 1984 he emigrated to Australia and started a new career as a general practitioner in Goodooga, New South Wales, a rural area serving a largely Aboriginal population. He retired in June 2011 and went to live in Campbelltown, also in New South Wales. He had a strong Christian faith. In December 1957 he married Saraswathie Louise Rasiah (known as 'Sara'). He died on 10 May 2014 at the age of 86. Predeceased by a son, he was survived by his wife, their two daughters and two grandchildren.