Paul Atkins was a consultant surgeon in Liverpool. He was born on 26 June 1933, into a musical family. His father George, known as 'Tommy', made and repaired church organs, including the one in Liverpool's Anglican Cathedral. His mother Dorothy was a dressmaker. As a student at King's College Hospital Paul played rugby and cricket, as well as the violin, and was celebrated for travelling through Europe at remarkably low cost. He completed junior posts at King's and in Plymouth, where he met his wife Connie Shoesmith, a ward sister at Freedom Fields Hospital. After further surgical posts at King's, he spent a year in Indianapolis, working on deep vein thrombosis. He was appointed as a consultant in Liverpool in 1970, first at the David Lewis Northern and Walton Hospitals, transferring to the Royal Liverpool Hospital when it opened in 1978. There he undertook a vast emergency and elective workload, and also developed the surgical endocrine service established by Philip Hawe. He was a founder member of the British Association of Endocrine Surgeons, organising the annual meeting in Liverpool in 1998, the year of his retirement. Paul rationalised and analysed the considerable body of information on deep vein thrombosis that had accumulated at Walton so it could be published in the *Lancet*. He made several visits to Libya to teach and to examine, always speaking well of his Libyan colleagues. He was driven by a strong Christian faith and, though never arrogant or pretentious, could be determined and tenacious in pursuing what he felt was right. His marriage to Connie was a long and happy one. They had one son, Timothy, and one daughter, Joanne. He died on 2 October 2002.