Solomon Lewis Citron was born in London on 5 November 1920 the son of Alik Citron, a tailor, and was educated at Regent Street Polytechnic before entering University College Hospital Medical School. He qualified in 1943 and after house appointments at the medical unit of Hammersmith Hospital and the Royal Ear Hospital joined the Royal Air Force where he served at Princess Mary's Hospital, Halton and attained the rank of Squadron-Leader. After demobilisation he pursued a career in otorhinolaryngology and passed the DLO in 1949 and the FRCS in the following year. He was then appointed senior registrar at University College Hospital and the Royal Ear Hospital until 1953 when he joined the consultant staff at Enfield. In addition to his hospital work he maintained his research interest, publishing papers and contributing chapters to standard textbooks. He was also part-time research assistant at the Medical Research Council's otological research unit at the National Hospital for Nervous Diseases. He retired from practice in 1981 but continued his interest in classical music and was an accomplished pianist. In 1983 he married Lorna Sills, a hospital administrator, but there were no children from the marriage. He died on 22 November 1987.