Tapan Kumar Bose was a consultant general surgeon who held posts in the UK and in India. He was born in Rangoon, Burma, on 18 October 1936, the son of Nani Gopal Bose, a lawyer, and Maya Rani Bose née Roy, a housewife and graduate of Rangoon University. He was educated at Calcutta Boys' School, St Xavier's College, Calcutta, where he passed an intermediate examination in science, and then attended medical school at Calcutta, qualifying in 1961. He was a house surgeon at Irwin Hospital, New Delhi. He then attended a postgraduate course in general surgery at Maulana Azad Medical College and Irwin Hospital for two years, holding a government of India scholarship. After completing his MS in 1964, he worked as a registrar in the fracture and orthopaedic department at Irwin Hospital. From 1966 to 1985 he worked in the UK as a registrar, locum senior registrar and locum consultant in, among other places, London, Kingston-upon-Thames, Salisbury, Bedford, Swindon, Cirencester and north Wales. He gained his FRCS in 1972. He returned to India in 1985 as a private consultant surgeon. He was a member of the Association of Surgeons of India and the Indian Medical Association. Outside medicine, he was interested in tennis, cricket and football (he supported Liverpool Football Club). He also enjoyed music, both Indian and Western, and carrying out repairs around the house. He travelled widely, in Europe, Canada, the United States and India. After his retirement in 2008, he devoted time to literary and cultural activities, including helping to celebrate the birthday of the Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore. In May 1979 he married Neera Haldar, a graduate in English literature from Agra University. They had a son, Biswajit, who became an electrical engineer. Tapan Kumar Bose died on 3 May 2013. He was 76. He is remembered by his family and colleagues as a man of principle, a conscientious and hardworking surgeon who tried to give his best.