Lester Warner Lowe was born on March 29, 1932 at Heckmondwike, Yorkshire, the son and second child of William Henry Lowe, schoolmaster, and his wife Anne, née Smith, the daughter of Percy Smith, director of the Yorkshire Rope and Twine Works. He was educated at Heckmondwike Grammar School from 1940 to 1950, where he was Rex Scholarum and gold medallist in 1950. He then entered the medical school at Leeds University where he won the McGill Prize in clinical surgery in 1956. After his house appointments in Leeds he served for two years in the RAMC from 1958 to 1960 as a junior surgical specialist, ending with the rank of Major. His further surgical training took place at the General Infirmary and St James's Hospital, Leeds, where he was influenced by H S Shucksmith, and at the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street. In 1963 he moved to the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital as a senior house officer. He took his FRCS in the same year, was promoted to senior surgical officer and gained experience under K I Nissen and D M Brooks. In 1970 he was the first orthopaedic surgeon to the newly built Northwick Park Hospital and played a large part in planning and organising the orthopaedic department, as well as influencing the development of the hospital, particularly during his three years as chairman of the medical executive committee. Not only did his personality and charm make him an excellent negotiator, but he was also a skilful surgeon with a practical approach to clinical problems, especially those of venous thrombosis and its prophylaxis in orthopaedic surgery and those of the management of degenerative disease of joints. He was a member of the research division of rheumatology where he worked closely with Dr Barbara Ansell on the treatment of children with rheumatoid disease. He helped to popularise the work of Sir John Charnley on the hip and himself pioneered the elbow prosthesis for degenerative disease of that joint. He served on the editorial board of the *Journal of bone and joint surgery* and his international reputation became rapidly established. He was the English editor of *International orthopaedics*, a member of the British committee of the Société Internationale de Chirurgie et de Traumatologie, honorary secretary of the British Orthopaedic Travellers' Association and a member of Council of the Orthopaedic Section of the Royal Society of Medicine. He married in 1957 Mary Rose, who shared with him his love of mountains and skiing. There were no children. He died in Switzerland on May 6, 1982, in a high-altitude ski-mountaineering accident, aged 50.