Mahmoud Booz was one of the first specialist orthopaedic surgeons in the Arab world. He was born in a small village in the Sharkiya province of Egypt on 6 June 1926. He completed his basic and high school education in Cairo and then joined the medical school at Cairo University (Kasr Alainy). In his third year, he moved to Ain Shams Medical School, expecting a better medical education due to the smaller number of students. He qualified in 1949. He then travelled to the UK for higher training in orthopaedics in Edinburgh and Bristol, where he was trained by Arthur Eyre-Brook. After obtaining his fellowships from the Royal Colleges of Surgeons of England and Edinburgh, he returned to Egypt, where he worked in Aswan, south of Egypt. With limited facilities, he managed to provide the local community with a good surgical service. In 1960 he moved to Kuwait and, with a specialist colleague, founded and established the first orthopaedic hospital in the Gulf. Here he developed a special interest in bone tuberculosis and fungal infections. In a series of papers in the *Journal of the Kuwait Medical Association*, he reported on the raised incidence and management of such diseases (including 'Urogenital tuberculosis in Kuwait in association with skeletal tuberculosis.' 1967 1 92; 'Surgical treatment of tuberculosis of bones and joints in Kuwait.' 1972 6 75; 'Fungus infection of bones and joints of lower extremity in Kuwait.' 1977 2 69). During his time in Kuwait, he travelled to war zones across the world with Red Crescent, working with medical teams in Benzert in Tunisia (1961), Syria (in 1967, following the war with Israel) and in Eritrea (1981). In 1979, again with Red Crescent, he provided medical and surgical services to war causalities in Peshawar, Pakistan. He returned to Peshawar in 1986, when he established a well-equipped trauma hospital caring for Afghan refugees and war casualties in the area. His work was highlighted in an article in *The New York Review of Books*. He was invited to talk about his medical charity work on a number of occasions in the UK (in Bristol, London and Plymouth). In an attempt to promote orthopaedics in Kuwait, he arranged for retired surgeons to visit his department. Eyre-Brook, Norman Capener, Donald Brooks, George Lloyd-Roberts, Anthony Catterall, Robin Ling and many other surgeons took part in training and continuous medical education. His vision was to establish sub-specialisation at Al Razi Orthopaedic Hospital, so Guy Pulvertaft spent a year training surgeons in hand surgery and J I P James established spinal surgery over a period of three years. He was also one of the founders of the Pan Arab Orthopaedic Association. Following the invasion of Kuwait in 1990, he was the only orthopaedic consultant not to flee the war zone. After four months, the Iraqi authorities ordered him to move north to Iraq. Faced with accepting the new post, going into hiding or leaving, he decided to escape from Kuwait. He drove with his wife through to Iraq, Jordan, then by sea to Egypt in November 1990. He retired to Cairo and his home village, where he continued with his previously established charity work, building schools, a hospital, a medical clinic, a carpet factory (which provided work opportunities), a sports arena, a library and a mosque. Donations were given to societies looking after orphans and helping young people from poorer backgrounds build their careers. Mahmoud Booz died after a short illness in his home village (Booz in Sharkiya) on 6 June 2016 and was buried in the family cemetery. He was 89. He was survived by his wife Salma, three daughters, eight grandchildren and five great grandchildren. Tragically, he was predeceased by his son, grandson and daughter-in-law, who died in a light airplane crash in October 2008. His contribution to humanitarian charity work both at home and in troubled zones all over the world was an inspiration to all.