Leslie Brian Fleming was a reader in surgery at the University of Newcastle and a consultant surgeon at the Royal Victoria Infirmary. He studied medicine in Newcastle and, after qualifying, specialised in surgery, becoming a senior registrar at the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle. He spent a year carrying out research at the Memorial Sloane Kettering Cancer Institute in New York, before returning to Newcastle as a senior lecturer and then a reader in surgery. He was clinical sub-dean of the medical school from 1976 until his retirement in January 1991. He was not married. He died after a series of illnesses on 27 January 2006.