Thomas Beath was a graduate of Toronto University, diplomate of American Orthopaedic Surgeons, master of surgery of Toronto University, and the past President of the Virginia Orthopaedic Society. He went to Virginia in 1940 and took an appointment in the surgical department of the Medical College of Virginia. There was a rotation residency with the orthopaedic and surgical service and he was assigned all compound fractures of the tibia and all compound hand wounds. Thomas Beath had acquired special experience on multiple pin fixation of the tibia and published an article concerning 100 consecutive cases. He was also a lecturer in anatomy. In 1941 Beath returned to Canada for orthopaedic residency training so that he could acquire the Board of Orthopaedic Surgery in the USA. On returning in 1945 to the USA he worked with A T Moore, one of the pioneers of orthopaedic surgery in Columbia, South Carolina. He then went back to Richmond where he continued his research on orthopaedics. With R I Harris he wrote a classic book on the foot and developed a technique for bone fixation by the medullary pin. Thomas Beath was a member of the Interurban Orthopaedic Club which was an elite group of orthopaedists throughout the eastern part of the USA and Canada and he hosted a meeting at Richmond in 1963. He was always most helpful in encouraging younger colleagues and helping them with their clinical and administrative problems. He was self-effacing and a complete gentleman of high intelligence. He died on 30 June 1980.