Kenneth Bloor was born on 14 May 1926, the son of William and Aida Bloor, of Earlstown, Lancashire. He was educated at Newton-le-Willows Grammar School, from where, with a county scholarship, he went to Manchester University, graduating MB ChB in 1949. He was house surgeon to Professor A M Boyd and house physician to Professor Robert Platt (later Lord Platt of Grindleford). He became research assistant to Professor Boyd in 1950, undertaking the long term follow-up of vascular patients in addition to teaching and clinical work. His MD thesis (1954) described the progress of 1500 patients and a later analysis was dealt with in his Hunterian lecture in 1960. He became FRCS in 1958 and ChM in 1962, the year he went to Glasgow as senior lecturer to Professor C F W Illingworth. There he collaborated in a project on the use of hyperbaric oxygen in the surgery of cerebro-vascular disease and total heart-lung bypass. Back in Manchester in 1964, he established a cardio-vascular research laboratory. He directed studies on reheating in hypothermia, using a microwave resonant cavity, and regeneration after cervico-thoracic sympathectomy. With A G Riddell and others, he developed open heart surgery in Manchester, and he became one of the (then) two cardiac surgeons at Manchester Royal Infirmary, a post he held until two years before his death. He and A G Riddell achieved excellent results in the surgical treatment of portal hypertension and with H F Bassett, he developed the so-called "piggy-back" operation, implanting a second heart into dogs so as to provide a new left ventricle in parallel with their own. Others were to profit from their experience when human heart transplants were developed. He became reader in surgery in 1966 and a part-time consultant in the NHS in 1971, Professor Boyd having retired the year before. He developed a large private practice and he took an active part in the Manchester Independent Medical Association. When the AMI Alexandra Hospital opened in 1981, he was invited to chair the Medical Advisory Committee, serving for three years. Bloor was a first class surgeon. His operative technique was relaxed, unhurried and safe, and this, combined with long clinical experience, enabled him to produce results that attracted patients from all walks. He was known internationally for his contributions to the science and practice of vascular surgery and he was a founder member of the Vascular Surgical Society of Great Britain and Ireland. He was a member of the New York Academy of Sciences and of the editorial board of *Vascular surgery*, New York. In 1985, he delivered the Michael Boyd memorial lecture, an annual commemoration of the life of his former chief, and he discussed inflammatory aneurysms of the abdominal aorta, a lesion first recognised by him and described in the *British journal of surgery* in 1972. History and astronomy were among his leisure interests but his favourite recreation was sailing, many of his holidays being spent visiting Ireland and north west Scotland in his 30 foot yacht. He was twice married, first to Giovanna, daughter of Professor P M S Blackett, FRS (later Lord Blackett, PRS). There were three daughters and a son. Secondly, to Val, his companion of twenty years. He fell ill in the autumn of 1985 and was found to have a malignant gastro-oesophageal lesion. Operations relieved him for a time but he died on 27 February 1986, survived by Val and his children. His professional skills, humour and integrity earned him the respect of patients, colleagues and the many juniors whom he trained. The Medical Advisory Committee of the AMI Alexandra Hospital arranged the Ken Bloor memorial lecture to be delivered annually. The inaugural lecture was delivered by Professor J S P Lumley, Professor of Surgery at St Bartholomew's Hospital, on 1 October 1987, in the medical school of the University of Manchester.