Cecil Ashley Marshal Renou, "Marsh" to all his friends, was born in 1904 in South Africa where his father, a mining engineer, was working at that time. While he was still a child they returned to Australia, and when his parents had to go abroad again he was left in the care of two fond aunts while he attended the Melbourne Grammar School. Having started his medical career in the Melbourne University he first arrived at the Alfred Hospital as a third year student in 1922, and qualified in 1925. After two years in junior appointments at the Alfred Hospital he departed for London where, after a further period of study and clinical training, he passed the Final Fellowship Examination in 1930. He then returned to become a clinical assistant at the Alfred Hospital, and was appointed emergency surgeon in 1935 with care of outpatients. In the meantime he had obtained the Fellowship of the Australasian College in 1934. In 1940 he joined the Army and was sent with the 4th Australian General Hospital to the Middle East. He was in Tobruk throughout the siege, and there his courage in sticking to his duties in spite of danger was an inspiration to his companions, for which he was mentioned in dispatches. Later he served in New Guinea with the 9th Australian General Hospital as Officer Commanding, Surgical Division. After the war there was a complete reorganisation of the surgical service at the Alfred Hospital owing to the retirement of most of the senior consultants and the consequent promotion of five comparatively junior men to the status of full surgeon to inpatients. It was under these unusual circumstances that Marsh Renou's genial influence welded his colleagues into a friendly cooperative team. He was a sound, if not a spectacular surgeon, and his common sense and good humour were greatly appreciated by his patients, and by the hospital staff of all grades of seniority. His period of office as honorary surgeon to the Alfred Hospital dated from 1946 till 1957, when he resigned on account of some attacks of precardial pain which were never quite satisfactorily explained. However, he was able to continue his work as chief medical adviser to the Chamber of Manufacturers' Insurance Company, and established a reputation for himself as a medico-legal witness whose opinion was relied upon by the justices. Apart from his professional work it may be noted that he played lacrosse for Melbourne University in 1922 and 1923; and was honorary surgeon to the Victoria Racing Club. He enjoyed a perfectly happy home life, having married Neenoo Due in 1935. They had 3 children, the eldest, a son who qualified in medicine and was on the resident staff at the Alfred Hospital at the time of his father's death; and the second, a daughter, who became a physiotherapist. Marsh Renou died at his home in South Yarra on 16 April 1965, leaving, too soon, so many who felt that they had lost not only a respected colleague but a man of exceptional character and a true friend.