Murray Pheils was professor of surgery at the University of Sydney. He was born in Birmingham on 2 December 1917, the younger of the two sons of Elmer Theodore Pheils, an osteopath, and Lilian Mary née Cole. His father Elmer was a colourful character: he was born in Toledo, Ohio, and trained as an o

Claude Organ was a distinguished American surgeon and the second African-American President of the American College of Surgeons. He was born in 1927 in Marshall, Texas, and educated at Terrell High School, Denison, and then Xavier University, Louisiana. Denied acceptance to the University of Texas o

Born on 20 December 1886 at Mooresville, North Carolina, he was educated at Davidson College and the University of Maryland, and served as resident surgeon at the University of Maryland Hospital, Baltimore in 1909. In 1916 he was called to the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, as assistant surgeon

Educated at McGill University, Montreal, graduating in 1931, he came to London for postgraduate study at St Bartholomew's Hospital, and took the Fellowship in 1939. He served throughout the war of 1939-45, reaching the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. Returning to Canada he was appointed associate sur

Roger Wilson was born in Victoria, British Columbia on 28 May 1910, and was educated at Victoria College and the University of British Columbia, graduating MD CM at McGill in 1934. He then worked at the Mallory Institute of Pathology, and was an intern at the Montreal General Hospital from 1935-1937

Harold Francis Mowat spent much of his career as surgeon to the International Nickel Company of Canada Hospital at Copper Cliff, Ontario. He died on 20 March 1980, survived by his wife, Dr Margaret A Mowat (nee Riddell), and daughters Margaret, Frances and Kathryn.

Walter Campbell MacKenzie was born in 1909 in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia. He went to school in Sydney and Baddeck and to Dalhousie University. He graduated BSc in 1929, MD, ChM in 1933 and was awarded the Malcolm Honour Society Medal as the outstanding graduate in his year. He was a resident at the Roya

Owen Harding Wangensteen, the son of a farmer, was born at Lake Park, Minnesota, USA, on 21 September 1885. He always wanted to become a farmer and was fond of relating how he decided to become a doctor instead. When he was a high school junior, he had the opportunity to help fifty of his father's s

Sir Robert Shields enjoyed a distinguished career in surgery and in academic and health service administration. He was professor of surgery and chairman of the department of surgery and honorary consultant to the Royal Liverpool University and Broadgreen hospitals from 1969 to 1996. His unit was int

Lloyd Nyhus was the first Warren Cole professor and head of surgery, and the second academic surgeon, at the University of Illinois, Chicago. During his 22 years as head of the department, Nyhus developed innovative, multidisciplinary residency programmes for more than 300 doctors and recruited top-

Roger James was a general surgeon who lived and worked in Canada. He qualified from the University of Sheffield in 1953 and passed the fellowship in 1960. He moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba where he was on the staff of the Misericordia General and Victoria General Hospitals. He died on 18 January 2007.

Donald Patrick Robertson qualified MD from Manitoba University in 1938. He passed the FRCS in 1947. He was surgeon to the Public General Hospital and St Joseph's Hospital in Chatham, Ontario, before joining the surgical staff of the Huntsville District Memorial Hospital in Huntsville, Ontario. He