Ralph Neville Sapsford qualified in medicine in Cape Town in 1962 and eventually travelled to the UK, where he passed the fellowship of the college and of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 1967. After working as a senior registrar in cardiothoracic surgery at the Hammersmith Hospital, he became consultant cardiothoracic surgeon and senior lecturer at the Hammersmith, the Royal Postgraduate Medical School and St Mary’s Hospital and Medical School. He lived in Ealing with his wife June and died on 14 February 2014.