John Henry Morad Romano was a consultant ophthalmic surgeon at Hillingdon. He was born in Egypt on 24 May 1926, the only child of Albert Romano, a solicitor in Cairo. His primary education was at École de Zamalek and from the age of 11 years at the Lycée Français in Cairo. He completed his Baccalaureat, then transferred to the English School in Cairo for one term. He began his medical training in Beirut in 1944, but left because of rioting and violence in the Lebanon and recommenced at Fuad el Awal University in Cairo. The instruction was in English and Arabic, and he had to pass an Arabic matriculation examination before entering medical school. He then spent a mandatory year working in the villages of the Nile delta, before returning to Cairo and then on to London to train in ophthalmology in 1952. He passed the diploma in ophthalmology in 1955. He returned to Cairo and was appointed consultant ophthalmic surgeon to the Victoria Hospital, Cairo. He and his family came to London permanently in 1959. His Egyptian qualification was not recognised in England, so he re-qualified with the LMSSA in 1960 and the FRCS in 1964. He was a registrar in ophthalmology at the Central Middlesex Hospital and chief clinical assistant at Moorfields Eye Hospital. He was appointed consultant ophthalmic surgeon at Hillingdon Hospital and honorary consultant to the Italian Hospital. He maintained his association with Moorfields, as a research fellow in the glaucoma clinic, which was his special interest, and on which he wrote and lectured for many years. He married Susie Castro in 1950, in Cairo. They had one daughter, Manya, who works as an interpreter for the Foreign Office. He was interested in sport, playing golf and cricket, and in music. He played the flute and the harmonica and was at one time music critic for the British Council. He died on 9 October 1994 from heart failure.