Denis Astley Sanford was a senior general surgeon in Sunderland. He qualified MB BS in 1936 and, after a house physician post at University College Hospital, London, became a resident surgical officer at the Royal Infirmary, Sunderland. He served as a wing commander in the RAF and then, after the Second World War, returned to Sunderland, where he became a consultant, working between Ryhope and Sunderland General hospitals. He was a clinical tutor at Sunderland Medical Postgraduate Centre and an RCS tutor. He also served on the Ministry of Health's advisory committee on management efficiency. In 1976 he was awarded an OBE. He was chairman of the Sunderland Council of Voluntary Service and of Sunderland Old People's Council (later Age Concern), and a member of the Rotary Club of Sunderland for more than 40 years. He was married twice. His first wife, Eluned 'Lyn' Woodford-Williams, was a pioneering geriatrician who, with Oscar Olbrich, helped establish geriatric services in the Sunderland area. Sanford's second wife was Evelyne. He moved to her home town of Cozes in France in 2000 and died there, aged 94.