Ronald Pitts Crick was a senior ophthalmic surgeon at King's College Hospital, London, and a pioneer in the use of the operating microscope in eye surgery in the UK. He was born in Toronto, Canada, on 5 February 1917. His father, Owen John Pitts Crick, was an engineer and inventor; his mother was Margaret Crick née Daw. He was educated at Minehead Modern School in Somerset and then Latymer Upper School in London. He went on to study medicine at King's College Medical School on an open science scholarship and qualified MRCS LRCP in 1939. He joined the Merchant Navy in 1939, and from 1940 to 1946 was a surgeon lieutenant with the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, mainly serving on the aircraft carrier HMS *Illustrious*. Following his demobilisation, Crick began his ophthalmic training back at King's College Hospital, becoming a consultant surgeon in 1950 at King's, the Belgrave Hospital for Children and the Royal Eye Hospital. In the 1950s he worked with Clifford Hoyle at King's and the Brompton Hospital on sarcoidosis, which can affect the eye, and wrote joint research papers on this topic. Also in the 1950s, he worked with Keeler instruments to develop the operating microscope for use in eye surgery. The prototype was shown in 1958 in Oxford and, two years later, a model was developed for trainee surgeons at the Royal Eye Hospital, London. His research also focused on glaucoma. He founded the Glaucoma Association in 1974, which later became the International Glaucoma Association, which aims to increase professional and public understanding of the disease and to fund research. With Roger Trimble he co-wrote *A textbook of clinical ophthalmology* (London, Hodder and Stoughton, 1986). He was awarded a medal of achievement by the American Society of Contemporary Ophthalmology, and in 2008 was given an honorary fellowship by the Royal College of Ophthalmologists. In 1941 he married Jocelyn Mary Grenfell Robin, a physiotherapist. They had four sons and one daughter. Their eldest son, Martin, is also a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons. Ronald Pitts Crick died on 10 June 2009, at the age of 92. He was survived by his wife and children.