Duncan Campbell ('DJC') was a consultant general surgeon at Selly Oak Hospital, Birmingham. He was born in Bristol on 15 August 1943, the son of Duncan Campbell, an aero engine inspector for Bristol Siddeley Engines, and Joyce Annie Lillian Campbell née Cheetham, a cook at a council day centre. DJC's Campbell relatives were from Greenock in Scotland and worked in ship building before moving to Bristol at the outbreak of the First World War. DJC was the first member of his family to choose a career in medicine. He was educated at Lockleaze Bilateral School, Bristol, which was newly built and had no tradition of preparing pupils for medical school. His interest in science was encouraged by the headmistress, Miss Devanney, and cultivated by his biology teacher, Miss Bishop. They encouraged his ambition to pursue a medical career and helped him obtain the necessary A levels. He was also active in school sports, particularly cricket, and was appointed head boy in his final year. DJC began his medical training at University of Birmingham Medical School 1961. He developed an interest in anatomy and undertook an intercalated BSc degree in the anatomy department under the supervision of R L Holmes. DJC's project was entitled 'An experimental investigation of the para-ventricular neurohypophysial neurosecretory pathway in the hedgehog' and involved stereotactic sampling of tissue from the mid-brain of anaesthetised hedgehogs with detailed histological analysis of the samples. He was awarded his BSc in 1966 and qualified MB ChB in 1967. After qualification, DJC travelled to Barbados (which had just achieved independence) to undertake a one-year internship in surgery and paediatrics at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Bridgetown. He then returned to the UK in 1968 to undertake a further pre-registration year at the County and General hospitals, Hereford, in general medicine and obstetrics and gynaecology. Having determined on a surgical career, DJC was then appointed as an anatomy lecturer at Birmingham Medical School in 1969 for one year, at the end of which he passed his primary FRCS examination. He then commenced surgical registrar training posts in the Birmingham area, including experience at the Birmingham Children's and Birmingham Accident hospitals (undertaking research on the open treatment of burns at the latter). After passing the final FRCS examinations of the Royal College of Surgeons of England and of Edinburgh, DJC was appointed as a senior surgical registrar on the West Midlands rotation, training at the Birmingham General, Queen Elizabeth and Selly Oak hospitals. In 1979 DJC was appointed as a consultant general surgeon to Selly Oak Hospital, Birmingham, taking over from Alan Leaske. At that time Selly Oak was a typical district general hospital with strong teaching affiliations with the Birmingham Medical School and he turned the practical challenges of a wide-ranging general surgical practice into an excellent teaching resource for undergraduates and postgraduates, emulating the example of his senior clinical colleague, Robert Sage. He also made several teaching videos, covering subjects such as splenectomy, the inguinal canal and laparoscopic cholecystectomy. In addition to the generality of surgical practice, he helped lay the foundations of a specialised vascular surgical service at the hospital and built up special interests in thyroid, colo-rectal and laparoscopic surgery. He was an active member of the West Midlands Surgical Society, becoming a committee member, treasurer and meetings organiser through the 1990s. From 1984 to 1989 he was chairman of the division of surgery at Selly Oak Hospital. His chairmanship demonstrated level-headed leadership and a vision for future development, which helped consolidate Selly Oak Hospital's reputation for service and teaching, and facilitated its amalgamation into the University Hospital Birmingham Trust in 1992. General surgery at Selly Oak Hospital transferred to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in April 2004, three months after Duncan's retirement at the age of 60. Outside medicine he was a keen cricketer. He played in inter-hospital fixtures and for his local Halesowen team. However, his main passion was for golf and, after joining Blackwell Golf Club following his consultant appointment, he played regularly, to a handicap that fell as low as seven. He was a freemason and was worshipful master of the Lister Lodge in 1984. He was also a keen gardener and was expert at cooking and growing his own vegetables. Maintaining a lifelong interest in ornithology, he was a member and supporter of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. DJC first met Hazel Desme Cooper at school in Bristol. Their relationship blossomed after DJC was invited back to address his old school after his first year as a medical student. It continued at long range after Hazel began secretarial training in Bristol, followed by secretarial appointments, necessitating arduous inter-city hitch-hikes (the M5 had yet to open), until their marriage in October 1966. Hazel then continued as the breadwinner in Birmingham until Duncan's qualification and the move to Barbados. They had two sons, Stuart and Ian, and three grandchildren. After ten years of fulfilling retirement, allowing more time for family, particularly grandchildren, travel around the world and bridge, golf and gardening, in June 2013 Duncan developed an inoperable pancreaticobiliary carcinoma and underwent six months of chemotherapy to achieve a two-month remission. When extensive relapse developed, he was admitted to St Mary's Hospice, only 200 metres from the hospital where he had spent his consultant career. He died peacefully on 12 April 2014, aged 70.