Oscar Theron "Jim" Clagett was born in Jamesport, Missouri, on 19 October 1908, the son of a country doctor and after early education at high school entered the University of Colorado for medical studies, qualifying in 1933. Initially he entered general practice but in 1935 he was successful in his application for a fellowship at the Mayo Clinic and was invited to join the surgical staff of the clinic in April 1940. He rose to Professor of Surgery in the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine and was a certified specialist in both general and thoracic surgery. He was elected President of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery in 1962 and President of the Western Surgical Association from 1966 to 1967. During his tenure of the Chair of Surgery many young surgeons from Britain and the Commonwealth passed through his department and all of them owe him a great deal for the high standards he set for himself and inspired in others. In 1968 he received the Clement Price Thomas award for meritorious contributions to surgery and on 13 November 1969 was admitted to the Honorary Fellowship of the College when Mr Norman Barrett gave the citation. Jim Clagett maintained a lifelong love of the Colorado mountains and enjoyed many years of boating on the Mississippi. He also appeared in two productions of the Rochester Civic Theatre. In 1972 he retired from surgery and became Chairman of the Mayo Clinic Board of Development. He died on 27 September 1990 aged 81 and is survived by his wife Alicia, daughters Mary, Nancy, Barbara and Martha, son Robert and fifteen grandchildren.