Ian Cope was born in Melbourne in 1927 and educated at the King's School and Sydney University. He did junior posts at St Vincent's Hospital and the Royal Hospital for Women in Sydney, before going to London for further training. There he worked at the Hammersmith Hospital, passed the FRCS and MRCOG, and returned to Sydney as a member of the senior medical staff of the Royal Hospital for Women and St Vincent's Hospital. He became a highly respected teacher, was senior lecturer in obstetrics and gynaecology at the University of New South Wales from 1962 to 1964, and was a member of the faculty of medicine from 1963 until 1992. He was secretary and later chairman of the staff council of the Royal Hospital for Women and a member of the board that administered the hospital. He was a member of the last Australian council of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, and its first Fotheringham fellow and the first Brown Craig travelling fellow. He was a founder of the Royal Australian College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, started its archival committee and wrote its history. He was awarded the President's medal in 1997. He died on 20 May 2002. He is survived by his wife, Joan and his son, Charles.