Daniel Gerard Lane was born on 29 April 1924, the son of Dr Morgan Lane of Brisbane, Queensland, who introduced him as a child to the Mater Misericordiae Hospital. He was educated at Nudgee College and entered the Medical School in Brisbane in 1942. He graduated with honours in 1947 and then did resident appointments at the Brisbane General Hospital and at the Mater Hospital. In 1950 he became an anatomy demonstrator in the University as the first step towards a higher qualification in surgery, and then in 1951 he came to England and held clinical assistantships at St Thomas's Hospital and certain of its affiliated hospitals to prepare for the Fellowship examinations which he passed in Edinburgh in 1951 and in London in 1952. On his return to Australia he was admitted to the Fellowship of the Australasian College of Surgeons in 1954 and became clinical assistant at the Mater Hospital. In 1956 he was appointed assistant surgeon to the Mater, and surgeon to the Repatriation Hospital and to Mount Olivet Hospital, Kangaroo Point. These appointments were valuable in two respects, for they afforded him opportunities for the development of his special interest in gastro-enterology and the surgery of the colon and rectum, and they also enabled him to carry into effect his keen desire to train his juniors at all stages of their career, but particularly at registrar level, thus promoting the growing interest in postgraduate education. He was a gifted teacher and as a lecturer he was welcomed far beyond his own university, both in Sydney and at the Royal College in Melbourne. He made a remarkable collection of illustrative slides, and made valuable contributions to surgical literature. It was a tragedy when the career of this outstanding personality was cut short at the age of 48 by a heart attack, and his loss was mourned by colleagues, patients, students and all who were associated with him in his social and professional activities. He died on 28 July 1972, and was survived by his wife, his six sons and two daughters.