John Patrick Richardson was born on 18 July 1928 at Port Pirie, South Australia. He was educated at the Christian Brothers' College in Adelaide from which he gained a Commonwealth Government Scholarship to study medicine at the University of Adelaide. He qualified in 1952 and after two years during which he worked in the University he came to England and immediately passed his primary. He worked with George Qvist, Ronald Raven and Norman Tanner before his FRCS. He then spent a year at Addenbrooke's Hospital before obtaining a Fellowship in Cardiovascular Surgery at Baylor University College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. During the following two years he studied at the feet of Michael DeBakey and Denton Cooley and had wide experience of cardiovascular investigations and surgical procedures. His return to Adelaide late in 1959 coincided with the opening of a new cardiothoracic surgical unit and by 1965 he was elected to the consultant staff of the Royal Adelaide Hospital, the Adelaide Children's Hospital and the Repatriation General Hospital. In 1967 he was invited to join the staff of St Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne where he helped set up the unit for open heart surgery. In 1973 he was appointed senior cardiothoracic surgeon to the Austin Hospital and associate cardiac surgeon to the Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne. He retired from active practice in 1978. From 1960 onwards he was engaged in both clinical and laboratory research. He published nigh on 50 papers and spoke regularly at meetings of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand. He introduced computer records to cover all cardiac surgery in South Australia and extended them to include records of cardiac catheterisation and intensive care. In 1969 he visited Papua and New Guinea at the government's request to make an assessment of their requirements for cardiovascular surgery. In 1976 he was responsible for the introduction of a new undergraduate teaching programme in cardiovascular medicine and surgery in cooperation with Professor A E Doyle. He also found time to travel abroad to visit other pioneers in his field from as far apart as Portland, Oregon and Stockholm and most places in between. In August 1978 he was forced to relinquish the surgical side of his practice owing to ill-health. He concentrated on cardiology and devoted himself to workers compensation. In addition he became assistant to the editor of the *Australian and New Zealand Journal of Surgery* from 1978 to 1980 and then editor from 1980 to 1985, whilst at the same time conducting a consultancy medico-legal practice in cardiovascular and respiratory disease at Epworth Medical Centre. In 1978 he started part-time studies for the degree of Bachelor of Theology which he completed in 1984 majoring in biblical studies and systematic theology. In 1985 he was elected inaugural president of the Melbourne Association of Graduates in Theology, an ecumenical association of those who have a degree from the Melbourne College of Divinity. On 28 November 1953 he married Danielle Griffin. They had two sons and four daughters one of whom gained a PhD in the department of gastroenterology at the Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne. He died from bowel cancer on 1 May 1987, in Melbourne and is survived by his wife Danielle and his six children - Monique, Anthony, Colette, Simone, Chantal and Damian.