Paul Mackay Bolton was born in Mackay, Queensland, Australia, on 5 May 1939. He was the son of Harry Thorndale Fossey Bolton, chartered accountant and Elaine, née Smith. He was educated at Brisbane Grammar School and was awarded an open scholarship to the University of Queensland where he won the Raff Memorial Prize and the Kenneth Wilson Prize and qualified in 1962 with MB BS (honours). He then held resident and junior appointments at Royal Brisbane Hospital including lecturer in anatomy and surgical registrar. In 1971 he came to the United Kingdom for further training and was appointed senior registrar, University Hospital of Wales and lecturer in surgery, Welsh National School of Medicine 1972-1973. Later he became senior lecturer consultant surgeon there from 1973 to 1974 and during this formative period he worked with Professor L Blumgart and Professor L E Hughes. The foundations of his main research interests were laid in the field of immunology and he investigated the immune competence of patients with neoplasms, particularly those of the breast and gastrointestinal system. His work formed the basis of a thesis for which he was granted a doctorate of surgery at the University of Queensland in 1977. He returned to Queensland in 1974 and continued his research into the effect of surgery and anaesthesia on immunity in cancer patients. This was to test the hypothesis that the rapid deterioration which sometimes follows exploratory or palliative cancer surgery is associated with a treatment-induced immune depression. In 1977 he was given a large grant from the National Health and Medical Research Council to continue this work. In 1977 Paul Bolton was appointed to the Chair of Surgery at the University of Tasmania, but owing to ill-health was unable to take up this position until January 1978. In spite of increasing illness and pain he continued his important work until a few weeks before he died in May 1978. He was to die of stomach cancer just two weeks after operating on a man with the same disorder. Professor Bolton was a keen sportsman and played cricket and squash (he was university squash champion for two years running), he was an excellent bridge player and very interested in philately. He published numerous papers on clinical surgery and surgical research particularly concerning the immunological aspects of cancer. Paul Bolton lived each day to the full and loved the Tasmanian countryside with the same enthusiasm that marked his every enterprise. As a surgeon and teacher he stood out as a man with a deep compassion and care in his relationship with patients and students. He married Judy Thompson in 1965 and they had four children; Paul, Rachael, Gregory and Timothy.