Gnamani Peter Christian was a professor of surgery at the Christian Medical College, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India. He was born in Nazareth, Tamil Nadu on 29 November 1927, the second son of Rajarathnam Theophilus Christian, a farmer and insurance executive, and Chellathai Christian née Ponnammal. His grandfather, a temple priest and the first in the family to convert to Christianity, took the surname Christian and went to Ceylon as a missionary. Christian attended Margoschis Memorial High School in Nazareth and then St John’s College in Palayamkottai, gaining prizes and being placed first in his class. He went on to study medicine at Madras Medical College, qualifying in April 1952, and joined the Indian Armed Forces Medical Services in September of the same year. In January 1957, he passed his primary FRCS in Colombo and then carried out advanced training in general surgery at the Armed Forces Medical College. From 1960, he was a surgical specialist in the Armed Forces. From 1963 to 1966 he was a senior assistant to General P T Joseph, a senior consultant in surgery for the Armed Forces. In July 1965, Christian gained a masters’ in general surgery from the University of Delhi. From 1966 to 1967 he worked as a senior registrar to Ronald William Raven at the Royal Marsden Hospital, London. In November 1966, he passed his final FRCS. Back in India, he was awarded the Nao Sena medal during the 1971 Indo-Pakistan Conflict while serving as a fleet medical officer to the Eastern Fleet and surgeon to the fleet on board the Indian Navy’s vessel Vikrant. He organised the cancer centre for the Armed Forces and was officer in charge of the malignant diseases treatment centre for the Armed Forces from June 1967 to November 1979. He was unit chief, undergraduate and postgraduate teacher in general surgery at the University of Poona from 1973. He was also an examiner at the universities of Poona and Madras. In 1979, he took premature retirement from the Armed Forces as a surgeon captain and was appointed as professor of surgery at the Christian Medical College and Hospital, Vellore. He was a member of the Association of Surgeons of India and a member of the oncology section, and a founder member (overseas) of the British Association of Surgical Oncology. He published papers on surgical oncology. His son, Francis, who also became a consultant surgeon, said he benefitted enormously ‘…from his wise and practical counsel and his unique, humane way of looking at surgical problems. One of the reasons he was such a good teacher was his ability to “get into the patient’s shoes” and into the shoes of the patient’s loved ones.’ He went on: ‘With my dad, what you saw was what you got…He was loving, forthright, beautifully frank and was one of the very few human beings I have known who gave hugs and kisses spontaneously and unconditionally.’ Outside medicine, Christian played tennis regularly and spent his spare time in church and taking part in church-related activities. In his retirement, his son says: ‘He did not slow down at all… If anything, he was much more busy – guiding younger surgeons with complex questions, doing a lot of free operations, sending needy children to school and higher education…’ His faith was extremely important to him and in caring for others ‘…he did not distinguish between the Christian, Muslim, Hindu or atheist.’ In 1956, he married a Miss Regina. They had a son and a daughter. Gnamani Peter Christian died in 2007. He left a legacy, in the words of his son: ‘…through the numerous students – myself included – who are now teachers and are passing on his methods and philosophies to a new and eager generation of students.’