Joe Fathi was born in Cairo on 3 March 1903, the second child of Dr Bernard Fathi and Mrs Fathi (née Rowntree). He came to England at an early age to be educated; He was at the Friends' School, Wigton, Cumberland, from 1910 to 1917 and then at the Friends' School, Saffron Waldon, Essex, from 1917 to 1919. He then entered the University of London at London Hospital Medical College, where he had an outstanding academic career, winning numerous prizes. He qualified in 1925 and a year later passed the London MB BS with distinction in surgery. He then held a number of posts at the London Hospital, and in 1933 took the University Gold Medal in the London MS. He held the post of surgical tutor and surgical registrar at the London Hospital from 1942 to 1946. During this time, owing to the absence on war service of many members of the staff of the London Hospital he shouldered the major share of surgical tuition, and generations of ex-London Hospital students remember him with admiration and gratitude. His knowledge was encyclopaedic, and Joe soon showed himself a born teacher. His experience was by no means confined to the London Hospital. He had held posts at Croydon, Tiverton, Canterbury, Selly Oak and North Middlesex Hospitals, and in addition had undertaken postgraduate study in Paris under such famous surgeons as Professor Marion and Professor Delbet, and also in Vienna, in the clinics of Professor Bohler and Professor Finsterer. Over the years Joe Fathi was greatly helped and influenced by, in particular, Sir James Walton and Sir Henry Souttar, and at the end of the war he was appointed surgeon to the Mildmay Hospital, the Connaught Hospital, and Queen Mary's Hospital, Stratford. He held these posts with the greatest distinction, and soon acquired a reputation not only for his great knowledge and ability, but also for his personal qualities of kindness and humanity. Here again, he was able to help generations of house surgeons and surgical registrars with his great gifts as a teacher. He was fortunate in having a very happy home life, he married Miss Freda Cousins in 1934 and they had three daughters and one son. He died suddenly on 11 October 1970 from a coronary thrombosis. Many, both doctors, nurses and patients, will always remember him with gratitude; it is relevant to quote his widow, as her observations throw such valuable light on Joe Fathi's character. "Joe was interested in absolutely everybody and everything, and I feel that it was his intense desire to mend and repair that made him such a skilful surgeon. Countless times I have known him to spend all night re-assembling a bicycle, lawn-mower, cuckoo-clock, or some child's toy. I remember a tiny clockwork donkey, with every leg beautifully reset with splints, and careful surgery had replaced the tail and ears!"