John Stubbs received his medical education at St George's Hospital Medical School, qualifying MB BS in 1954, and obtained the London PhD in 1959 and the MS in 1964. After qualification he was first assistant in the surgical unit at St George's before becoming senior registrar at St Mark's Hospital. Thereafter he was senior lecturer in medicine at Charing Cross Hospital, consultant general surgeon to the Riverside Health Authority and consultant general surgeon to King Edward VII Hospital, Midhurst. At the College he was appointed Penrose May Surgical Tutor in 1968; he was also a member of the Council of the Intensive Care Society. He died on 11 August 1993.