Robert Pracy was director of the department of otolaryngology at Liverpool University. He was born in Atherstone, Warwickshire on 19 September 1921. His father, Douglas Sherrin Pracy, was a surgeon; his mother was Gwendoline Blanche Pracy née Power. He was educated at Berkhamsted School and then went on to study medicine at St Bartholomew’s Hospital Medical School. He qualified with the conjoint examination in 1944 and the MB BS in 1945. From 1947 to 1949 he was a captain in the Royal Army Medical Corps. From 1966 to 1975 he was director of the department of otolaryngology at the University of Liverpool and a consultant to the Liverpool United Hospitals and Alder Hey Children’s Hospital. In 1976, he became a consultant at Great Ormond Street Hospital and the Royal Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital in London. From 1981 to 1983 he was dean of the Institute of Laryngology and Otology. He was a member of the Court of Examiners at the Royal College of Surgeons from 1971 to 1977, a member of the Specialist Advisory Committee on Otolaryngology from 1971 to 1982 (chairman from 1978 to 1981) and president of the British Association of Otolaryngology from 1978 to 1981. He was awarded the Semon lectureship of the University of London in 1980. He was an associate editor of the *International Journal of Paediatric Otolaryngology*. Outside medicine he enjoyed painting, engraving and printing (he was a member of the Medical Art Society), fly fishing, cabinet making, reading and the theatre. In 1946, he married Elizabeth Patricia Spicer. They had two sons – one died and the other, John Paul Myles Pracy, is a surgeon and also an FRCS – and two daughters.