Roger Brearley was a consultant general surgeon at Whiston and St Helens hospitals, Merseyside. He was born in Liverpool on 24 April 1922, the son of Thomas Brearley, an oboist in the Liverpool Philharmonic and Hallé orchestras. His mother's maiden name was Duncalfe. His great grandfather, George Duncalfe, studied medicine at Guy's from 1822; his son, Henry, followed in 1848. They both became general practitioners in the Midlands. Roger Brearley attended Liverpool Institute High School for Boys, where he was awarded the Lord Derby prize for chemistry and the Margaret Bryce Smith scholarship to Liverpool University. He studied medicine at Liverpool University, qualifying MB ChB in 1945, with a distinction in public health in the MB exam. He trained as a surgeon in Liverpool, at the David Lewis Northern Hospital, the Royal Infirmary and the Royal Southern Hospital, as a house officer, registrar and senior registrar, and passed his FRCS at the first attempt in 1949. He was a lecturer in the department of surgery at Liverpool and an assistant in the university surgical clinic at Padua, and was subsequently appointed as a consultant surgeon to Whiston and St Helens hospitals in 1960. At Whiston he became the first postgraduate tutor and was instrumental in raising the funds to build the Whiston Postgraduate Medical Centre. He was chairman of the Mersey regional postgraduate training committee and also served on the area health authority. In 1979 he was elected as a member of the General Medical Council. At the British Medical Association (BMA), he served on the consultants committee and represented UK consultants on the Standing Committee of Doctors of the European Economic Community (EEC), the European Union of Medical Specialists and the EEC's Advisory Committee on Medical Training, which he chaired. Here he was involved in drafting medical directives and recommendations designed to harmonise, to some degree, the various systems of training and healthcare found in the member states. His work was recognised by the award of a fellowship from the BMA. Outside work, he had a passion for music, particularly the music of J S Bach, and played the harpsichord. He owned a house in Langdale, in the Lake District, for many years and enjoyed walking. He was president of the Dante Alighieri Society in Liverpool, reflecting his love of the Italian language and Italian culture. Roger Brearley died on 31 May 2010 in Kendal, in a nursing home. He was 88. He was survived by Joyce (née Hewitt), his wife of 60 years, their sons, Stephen (also a surgeon) and John, and their daughter, Catherine. Sarah Gillam