Allastair Karmody was born in Trinidad, West Indies, on 29 March 1937, the son of Solomon Karmody, an engineer, and his wife, Sylvia. His brother, Colin, qualified as a doctor at Tufts University, Boston, USA. Allastair was educated at St Mary's College, Port of Spain, Trinidad, and the University of Aberdeen, qualifying in 1962 and gaining ChM in 1969. His national service was in the RAMC. In his surgical training in Aberdeen he was much influenced by G E Mayor. He moved to the USA and became Professor of Surgery and Chief of Vascular Surgery, Albany Medical College, and was attending surgeon, Veterans' Administration Medical Centre, Albany, NY. His great experience and interest in vascular surgery was evident in his prodigious output of papers (some 150), several papers being in press when he died (many written with R P Leather, D M Shah and J D Corson). He was President of the Upstate New York Vascular Society and the Society for Clinical Vascular Surgery. Allastair was an avid tennis player and was interested in computers and computerised registries. He married Kathleen and they had two children, Melanie and Michael. He died on 16 June 1986.