James Moroney was born on 26 July 1916 and educated at St Francis Xavier's College and Liverpool University, graduating MB in 1938, in which examination he won the Gold Medal in surgery and operative surgery. Having passed his Primary FRCS whilst a medical student he took his Final FRCS in 1941 and then served throughout the war as surgeon to the Emergency Medical Service at Broadgreen Hospital, Liverpool. In 1946, at the age of 29, he was appointed consultant surgeon to Broadgreen Hospital and Clatterbridge Hospital, Wirral, and rapidly built up a very large surgical practice, working through long operating lists with great dexterity, unending patience and great good humour. In the early 1950's, Moroney became known for his work on colonic replacement of the stomach for peptic ulceration and in 1953 he was awarded a Hunterian Professorship for his work. Moroney was a skilled teacher, becoming the first clinical subdean at his hospital and writing a very successful textbook *Surgery for nurses* which ran through many editions. He served as a member of the board of the faculty of medicine and was chairman in 1975. At the age of 60 he retired to the Isle of Man and was able to indulge his passion for world travel before undergoing an emergency abdominal operation after which he died suddenly on 28 July 1981, aged 65. He was survived by his wife, Dr Helen Walker, who graduated at Liverpool in the same year as her husband, also obtaining a distinction in surgery, and by their son and daughter, who are in general practice.