Ross Bloom was born in Leeds on 2 January 1915; his father was a shopkeeper and his mother's maiden name was Fanny Castenberg. He was educated at Cardiff High School and graduated from the University of Wales in 1937, taking the London MB BS, the same year. He obtained the prize for the best first year medical student. He held several house appointments in Cardiff and was greatly influenced by Lambert Rogers. He lectured to many students and to doctors who had escaped the Nazi tyranny, helping them to obtain English qualification. In 1942 he joined the Army and was posted to India, where he saw service until 1946 as officer in charge of a surgical division. He reached the rank of Colonel and was discharged with the honorary rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. After the war he was senior orthopaedic registrar at the Middlesex Hospital under Philip Wiles 1947-1950, when he was appointed consultant orthopaedic surgeon to the Wessex Regional Hospital Board, which at that time covered Wessex and the Isle of Wight. In 1955 he was appointed to a similar position in the Bournemouth and East Dorset Hospital Group, a post he held till his untimely death on 25 September 1973 aged fifty-eight. During this time he became a Fellow of the British Orthopaedic Association. Ross Bloom was a quiet-spoken, hard-working, dedicated man, liked and respected by all his colleagues, staff, and patients. General practitioners always found him ready and willing, at whatever hour of day or night, to make a domiciliary visit, giving their patients relief and reassurance. He fought his last illness with quiet dignity and composure. He was survived by his wife, née Edna Sattin, whom he married in 1942, their two sons and daughter-in-law.