Rustom Jamshed Maneksha was head of the department of plastic surgery at Gokuldas Tejpal Hospital in Mumbai. Born on 14 February 1920 in Bombay, he was the second child of Jamshed Maneksha, assistant professor of anatomy at Grant Medical College and his wife, Goolbai. His maternal grandfather, Jehanjir Spencer, was also medically qualified. Educated at Bharda New High School and St Xavier’s College in Bombay, he then studied medicine at Grant Medical College where he had a scholarship in anatomy and won medals in ophthalmology and gynaecology in his final MB BS. After qualifying in 1944, he travelled to the UK and trained at Bart’s and the Middlesex Hospitals. While there he met, and was influenced by, such important figures as Sir Archibald McIndoe, Sir Harold Gillies and Rainsford Mowlem. In 1946 he passed the fellowship of the college. He returned to India convinced of the need to develop the specialty of plastic surgery in his country. Appointed as a general surgeon to the Gokuldas Tejpal Hospital in 1949, he was encouraged by his senior Ranagnath Gajanar Talwalkar to perform exclusively plastic surgical operations and actively develop that branch of surgery. All too well aware of the problems suffered by young people with smallpox scars on their faces he developed a manual metal dermabrader in 1950, a version of which is still available and widely used today. He also pioneered cleft lip and palate surgery. In 1958 he founded the plastic surgery department at the Bombay Hospital and established the unit at the Gokuldas Tejpal Hospital in 1964. Ever keen to investigate new methods he spent time in Japan and introduced microsurgery to India in 1977. He worked at Bacha, Sodha and Northcote nursing homes and was also a visiting surgeon in Dubai. From 1993, when he was in his early 70’s, he began to reduce his workload but continued as a consultant emeritus. The Armed Forces of India appointed him consulting specialist in plastic surgery and he served at INHS Ashvini treating the wounded from the Indo-Pakistani wars of 1965 and 1971. There were a significant number of burns cases as well as other problems demanding his skills and, at that time, there were very few qualified plastic surgeons in the country. For this work he was honoured with the title of Surgeon Commodore by the President in 1976. Keen to advance plastic surgery in India he travelled widely to learn new techniques and invited many famous practitioners to visit him. He conducted lectures for local general practitioners to show them the advantages of plastic surgery for their patients. To him plastic surgery for cosmetic reasons played a hugely significant role psychologically – he used to say it was ‘the loftiest form of surgery’ and quoted Murray’s saying that the surgeon was ‘the psychiatrist with the scalpel’. Having maintained a photographic archive of his work from the start he was able to produce two well illustrated books – *Plastic surgery in the tropics* (1965) and *Colour atlas of cleft lip surgery* 1986) and he published frequently in the major international journals in his discipline. He was president of the Association of Plastic Surgeons of India from 1970 to 1972. In April 1946 he married Roda Nadir Reporter. They had two sons, Jimmy who is a cardiothoracic surgeon and Farrokh who practices as an aneasthesiologist in the USA. A lover of classical music particularly if composed by Mozart, he played the violin from an early age and was a member of the Bombay Symphony Orchestra. At school he had been captain of the cricket team and continued to play in various charity matches over the years. In his forties he took up golf with great enthusiasm and usually started at 6.30 in the morning. In spite of orthopaedic problems he continued into his seventies and used to say that there were great similarities between playing golf and plastic surgery. ‘...both bring out the best in you. On the golf course you plan each hole in advance after due study, then start on the tee after selecting the correct club, try to avoid all the hazards and if entrapped overcome them and finally reaching the undulating putting green reach the final goal.’ Roda predeceased him in 1997 and he died on 6 June 2004 aged 84, survived by their sons.