Sol Cohen was born in 1904 in Cape Town where he gained his early education. He proceeded to the University of Cape Town, graduating BA (Honours) in 1923 and MA in 1925. He then entered Guy's Hospital Medical School for his clinical studies where his ability and innovative approach attracted the attention of Sir Heneage Ogilvie who became his life long supporter. After obtaining the FRCS he returned to South Africa and worked among the bushmen in the Northern Cape, acquiring wide expertise in surgery including the management of stab wounds of the chest and depressed fractures of the skull caused by knobkerries. He returned to England in 1939 and was appointed surgical superintendent at the Southern Hospital, Dartford. A former colleague there recalled that they were the first hospital to receive hundreds of soldiers after the Dunkirk evacuation. His experience of arterial injuries led to the award of a Hunterian lecture in 1943 on traumatic arterial spasm. Sir Thomas Lewis was so impressed with this work that Cohen was appointed to the Medical Research Council Committee on vascular injuries. With the advent of the Health Service he was appointed consultant surgeon to the Medway and Gravesend Group of Hospitals and surgeon to the peripheral vascular centre at Joyce Green Hospital, Dartford. He gave a second Hunterian lecture in 1952 describing his experience with aneurysms and arteriovenous fistulae. Sol Cohen was a man of boundless energy with a great appetite for life. With his wide experience of general surgery and profound knowledge of vascular disease he could bring any discussion to life by his pertinent remarks. He wrote widely, mainly in the vascular field, and was for many years a much valued assessor of articles submitted to the medical press. In 1966 he was elected the first President of the Society of Vascular Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland. He died on 1 November 1989, aged 85.