William Roberts was born in Cape Province in 1924, the son of William Morton Roberts, a businessman, and his wife Winifred Mary, née Birmingham, a music teacher. He attended Oudtshoorn Boys' High School before entering the University of Cape Town Medical School, where he qualified MB ChB in 1947. After house appointments at Groote Schuur Hospital and the Peninsula Maternity Hospital he went into general practice in Sutherland (Cape), where he also acted as district surgeon. In 1955 he returned to Groote Schuur Hospital to train in surgery under Professor Jannie Louw and was awarded his M Med (Surg) degree at the end of 1958. He spent 1959 in London, passing his FRCS, and in 1960 returned to South Africa to be appointed almost immediately into a principal specialist post on the joint staff establishment. He rapidly established a high reputation for his surgery, becoming first assistant to Professor Louw and being responsible for the day-to-day running of his surgical unit. His quiet confident manner and outstanding technical gifts drew universal respect and he made an enormous contribution both to general surgery on a national scale and to vascular surgery in particular. He was an outstanding and popular teacher, widely read and possessed of an ability to pass on his knowledge in a logical and memorable manner. He played an important part in setting up the trauma unit at Grooteschuur and was also an active member of the vascular, endocrine and breast clinics, contributing numerous publications and presentations at academic meetings. In 1966 he was awarded the Eli Lilly research fellowship and spent a year at the Albert Einstein School of Medicine in New York, researching changes in the cardiovascular system in septic shock. Soon after his return he accepted a senior post at the University of Stellenbosch. In 1969 he decided to enter private practice in Cape Town but continued his valuable work as teacher and examiner on a part-time basis. His outstanding attribute was that of total dedication to his career and the individual care of his patients, but nevertheless he managed to find time for a wide variety of outside interests. He had a love of classical music, interests in astronomy, photography, marquetry and carpet weaving and, in his earlier years, an enthusiasm for exploring the many routes and climbs of Table Mountain. Later he was increasingly disabled by degenerative spondylosis but continued in full practice until overcome by his final illness. He died on 8 June 1995, survived by his wife Mary, née Deas, a musician, daughters Sharon, Patricia and Carole, and four grandchildren.