Stephen Stephenson was born in Belfast on 5 August 1915. His parents were both graduates of Trinity College, Dublin, but had moved north. His father, John Lewis Irwin, was a schoolmaster and his mother Mabel, née Frazer, the daughter of a Methodist Minister. The family then moved to Bedford and Stephen spent eleven years as a pupil at Bedford School, where his father taught mathematics. Going up to St Mary's Hospital Medical School he qualified MB London in 1939. After his house jobs he was called up into the navy and spent four adventurous years as surgeon lieutenant in the RNVR. Following his war service he took junior surgical appointments first with Norman Tanner at St James's, Balham, and then with Sir Thomas Holmes Sellors at the London Chest Hospital. This post determined the direction of his subsequent career as consultant thoracic surgeon at the Birmingham General Hospital. He retired in 1980 before thoracic surgery had been entirely overtaken by cardiac surgery and had many years to enjoy his hobbies of gardening and golf. He married Mollie Wayman, a St Mary's nurse, in 1944. They had two daughters, one of whom has followed her mother's profession, and a son. Stephen Stephenson died on 1 December 1996.