John Dunphy was one of the group of North American surgeons who did so much to form a bond of lasting friendship with young and old Fellows of the College after the second world war. Born in Northampton, Massachusetts, John Dunphy was educated at the Holy Cross College (SJ) and at the Harvard Medical School. He embarked on a surgical career at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital but during the second world war served with, and became Chief of, the Surgical Service 5th General Hospital in the Italian campaign. He was part of the assembly of American surgeons headed by Edward Churchill, Frank Lahey and Richard Cattell who helped to advance the operative surgery of chest wounds and lay the foundations of modern thoracic surgery. After the war he became Professor of Surgery at the City Hospital, Boston, and quite understandably found that some hospital administrative duties entrusted to him, such as care of the laundry, inhibited his destiny as a leader of postgraduate surgery. In 1959 he became Professor of Surgery and chairman of the department of surgery, University of Oregon, where his real ability flourished until his final appointment in 1964 as head of the department of surgery, University of California in San Francisco. It became a mecca of surgical academia and practice, with emphasis on the biological process of wound healing, a place where numerous young Fellows of the College sought research fellowships and older Fellows plenty of stimulation and wise counsel. Dunphy's contribution to the surgical literature was prodigious, he was a member of many societies, recipient of several honorary fellowships, and President of the American College of Surgeons and of the Society of University Surgeons. In all his efforts he had the support of his wife. Together they were a friendly welcoming team to all who visited them.