Wit Kmiot was a consultant in general and colorectal surgery at St Thomas' Hospital, London. He was born in London on 15 August 1959, to Polish parents. He was an undergraduate at King's College, London, and Westminster Medical School, qualifying in 1983. House officer appointments in Poole and King's Lynn were followed by an accident and emergency post at Charing Cross Hospital. He then moved to the Midlands and spent his registrar and senior registrar years in different hospitals in Birmingham. During this time he developed an interest in colorectal surgery and was awarded a travelling fellowship to the Cleveland Clinic in Florida, where he gained special coloproctological experience. He spent time as a research fellow in the academic department of surgery in Birmingham, where he studied the aetiology of acute reservoir ileitis after restorative proctocolectomy. In 1991 the resulting thesis was accepted for the degree of master of surgery, and in the same year he was awarded a Hunterian Professorship by the college for this work. In 1994 he returned to London as senior lecturer and honorary consultant in colorectal surgery at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School, Hammersmith, working with Robin Williamson. He remained in this post for two years, before moving to an NHS consultant appointment at the Central Middlesex Hospital. A year later, in 1998, he was appointed consultant in general and colorectal surgery to St Thomas' Hospital, where he worked until his untimely death at the age of 47. By the time of his death he had already established himself at the forefront of academic coloproctology, with a stream of published papers in peer reviewed journals, chapters in textbooks and oral presentations at meetings at home and overseas. His early research interests were in molecular biology and clinical immunology, but he later became particularly involved with anorectal physiology and 3-D endoanal ultrasound. He supervised the research of several trainees, all of whom gained a higher degree. He was a co-editor of the *International Journal of Colorectal Disease*. Married to a nurse, he had two sons to whom he was devoted. He was a gourmet and every year entertained his firm at St Thomas' to Christmas lunch at an exclusive private dining establishment. As an undergraduate he had been a first class rugby player, playing in the Wasps first 15 and representing Middlesex as well as the United Hospitals. Perhaps, therefore, it is no surprise that he was a large man physically. He also had a big personality and could at times be somewhat outspoken, a trait which did not always endear him. Very sadly, he was found to have a malignant brain tumour after being involved in a minor road traffic accident caused by impaired vision which he had not recognised. Despite surgery and chemotherapy he died within a few months of diagnosis on 17 November 2006.