John Fry was born in South London on 16 June 1922, the son of a general practitioner, and was educated at Whitgift School, Croydon, and Guy's Hospital Medical School, qualifying in 1944. He took his FRCS diploma in 1947, but very soon decided to take up general practice, and he remained a single-handed GP in Beckenham, Kent, until he retired in 1992. He was a skillful clinician and researcher, which followed careful observation and meticulous recording of his cases. He subsequently made major contributions to the development of general practice in this country, using this information to challenge some existing practices at the time, such as an excessive resort to tonsillectomy. He showed that books written by a general practitioner could influence both primary health care and hospital treatment, and his careful clinical research stimulated others to do likewise. He liked to quote the 16th century French military surgeon Ambroise Paré's description of a doctor's role - 'to cure sometimes, to relieve often, to comfort always'. He was elected a founder member of the Royal College of General Practitioners in 1952 and received their Foundation Council award in 1993, after serving 34 years on the Council. His appointments were numerous, and he was much in demand as a lecturer in general practice, both at home and abroad. He was adviser to the World Health Organisation, consultant to the army in general practice, trustee of the Nuffield Provincial Hospitals Trust (who honoured him by establishing a John Fry lecture), and a member of the General Medical Council for many years (and ultimately its treasurer). He was awarded the CBE in 1988, and received the Charles Hastings prize twice from the BMA (in 1960 and 1964), and the Hunterian Society gold medal twice (in 1955 and 1956). He was a fellow of the Rockefeller Foundation, and he was also awarded the James MacKenzie prize in 1965. He was a prolific author, and wrote several books including *The catarrhal child* (1961), *Profiles of disease in childhood* (1966) and *Common diseases* (1974). He also edited *Primary care* (1980), *Scientific foundations of family medicine* (1978), and introduced the popular medical magazine *Update* with Dr Abraham Marcus. He married twice, firstly in 1944 to Joan Sabel who died in 1989, and secondly to Trudy Amiel, née Schwer. He had a son and a daughter by his first marriage, who survive him. He died on 28 April 1994, aged 71.