David Simpson Cole was dean of the Auckland School of Medicine for fifteen years. Born in Waihi on 25 October 1923, he was the son of James McMurray Cole, a general surgeon, and his wife Doris Elizabeth Cole, née Alcock. His mother passed the conjoint examination of the college while at the Royal Free Hospital in London and worked in health education specialising with mothers and children. Her father was a businessman. David, their first son, attended King’s College School in Auckland and then studied at Auckland University. At Otago University Medical School he completed a BMedSc under Jack Eccles in 1945. Awarded a senior scholarship in medicine and the Batchelor memorial prize in surgery, he was demonstrator in anatomy to Bill Adams for a year. In 1953 he came to the UK initially to train in general surgery with Ronald Reid at the Essex County Hospital in Colchester. He then practised thoracic surgery under Sir Russell Brock at the Brompton Hospital, London. Returning to New Zealand two years later in 1955, he continued his training at Greenlane Hospital with Sir Douglas Robb and Rowan Nicks. He was involved in the development of open heart surgery in the country and carried out a major role in the production of the educational programmes of the National Heart Foundation. He also researched new techniques in peripheral vascular surgery, a particular interest of his. He was appointed associate dean of graduate studies in medicine at the University of Auckland in 1969 and became dean of the Auckland School of Medicine in 1974. During the fifteen years he was in post the annual student intake doubled from an initial 60 students and new academic units were founded at Greenlane, Middlemore and Waikato Hospitals. A gifted teacher, the methods he introduced for evaluating student competence were still in use many years after he retired. An active member of the Medical Research Council, the National Heart Foundation and the New Zealand Postgraduate Medical Federation, he was a prolific writer and also helped develop numerous standards for safe clinical practice. In 1953 he married Margot North and they had four daughters and a son. Foremost among his interests were tennis, carpentry, hiking and spending time at the family’s holiday home, Anawata, on the west coast above Piha. He died on 8 September 2008, aged 84.