Tom Williams was chairman of the department of surgery at the University of Alberta, Canada. He was born in Rhewl, Wales, on 17 April 1925, and spent his childhood and youth in north Wales. He studied medicine in Liverpool, where he completed junior surgical posts, before going to Edmonton, Alberta, in 1956 on a research fellowship to work with Walter McKenzie. There he was offered the post of clinical lecturer and in due course was appointed clinical professor and chairman of the department of surgery at the University of Alberta in 1975, which he combined with being consultant surgeon to two other hospitals in Edmonton and the Seton Memorial Hospital in Jasper, 250 miles away. His main research interest was in wound healing, but he was highly regarded as a surgical teacher. He was a founder member of the Canadian Association of General Surgeons and served as secretary, archivist and then president. He married Betty née Shepherd, a pathologist, and had four children (Howell, Dorothy, Anne and David), three of whom became doctors – one a surgeon at Alberta University Hospital. Tom was keen on walking and climbing in the Rockies, and as a hobby repaired and restored vintage motor-cars. He died on 24 March 2006.