Aziz Shukri was a professor of surgery in Baghdad, Iraq. He graduated from Baghdad College of Medicine in 1946, at a time when that university was widely esteemed for its high standards. He was inspired by Lindsay Rogers to take up surgery, and went to London, completing posts at Hammersmith, Guy’s, St Charles and St Mark’s hospitals before passing the FRCS. On returning to Iraq in 1953 he was appointed as a specialist, becoming an academic in 1959 and a professor in 1966. He was the author of many papers on endocrine, breast and renal surgery, and over a career of nearly 60 years trained generations of Iraqi surgeons. He chaired the Iraqi Commission for Medical Specialisations from 1988 to 2004, when UN sanctions were threatening medical standards, and continued to struggle to maintain them through two invasions from the West. He died of a myocardial infarction on 18 June 2004. He is survived by his wife Margaret, a retired professor of obstetrics and gynaecology, his daughter Salwa, and his sons Saad, a surgeon, and Ziad.