Anthony (Tony) Kelly was born in Melbourne on 8 November 1909, the son of Piers Lefanu Kelly, a mining engineer, and Anna Dorothy, née Keelan. He was educated at Bacchus Marsh High School in Victoria, St Patrick's College, Ballarat, Victoria, and the University of Melbourne Medical School, where he graduated in 1933. After junior appointments at St Vincent's Hospital in Melbourne he came to London to study for the FRCS. On his return to Australia he was appointed resident medical officer at St Vincent's and then joined the staff as a general surgeon from 1938 until his retirement in 1970. He was appointed lecturer in surgery to the University of Melbourne from 1938 to 1970 and lecturer in pathology there from 1939 to 1946. He also served as an examiner in surgery to the University for many years, and was a member of the Faculty of Medicine, serving on committees set up to establish chairs of medicine and surgery. He was appointed dean of the Clinical School of St Vincent's Hospital from 1960 to 1964. Tony Kelly was a general surgeon with a wide range of skills, despite a childhood injury to his left elbow which limited movement of his arm. This did not interfere with his surgery but prevented him from enlisting for active service in the army during the second world war. He was a man of broad interests, enjoying gardening, chess and the arts, and a man of principle with a high sense of service to his profession. He married Mary Ellis Reay in 1935 and they had three daughters and one son, and enjoyed a very happy and warm family relationship. He died on 9 September 1996 at the age of 87.