Denys Sambrook did his medical studies at St Thomas's Hospital where he qualified in 1938. After junior posts in orthopaedics he decided to train as a radiotherapist and for a time worked as a consultant in radiation oncology at St John Regional Hospital, New Brunswick, Canada. After being appointed first consultant to the new unit in Swansea in 1951, his career was spent in the Swansea and West Wales Hospitals. He was active in the BMA, becoming Chairman of the Swansea and West Glamorgan Division. He published and lectured extensively on split course radiation therapy and chemotherapy, with a special interest in cancer of the ear, nose and throat. In retirement he read widely, especially in French and German, in which he was fluent. He died on 23 January 2002 of bronchopneumonia and left ventricular failure, and was survived by his wife, Angela, their three children and his grandchildren.