Born 12 January 1862 at Westport, Connecticut, the eldest son of Horace Bradley Coley, farmer, and Clarine Bradley Wakeman, his wife. He was educated at Westport School, at Yale University (1880) and at the Harvard Medical School (1886-88). He acted as instructor in surgery at the New York Postgradu

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

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

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

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

Peter Catts was a general surgeon in New South Wales, Australia. He was born in Sydney, New South Wales on 12 April 1940, the son of Stanley Victor Catts and Vera Jean Catts née Reynolds. He went to the UK for surgical training and gained his FRCS in 1967. He then returned to Australia, where h

Kevin Bridson Orr was born in Balmain, Sydney on 17 July 1927, the son of Clarence Montague Orr and his wife Vera Ruth née Bridson. He studied medicine at Sydney University and qualified in 1950. From 1950 to 1951 he was resident medical officer at the Grafton Base Hospital in Grafton, New South Wal

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

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.

John Connolly, always known as 'Jack', was the founding chair of the department of surgery at the University of California, Irvine (UCI), an internationally admired academic surgeon and a noted anglophile. He was born on 21 May 1923 in Nebraska to Earle and Gertrude Connolly, and was inspired by

Lloyd Douglas MacLean was professor of surgery at McGill University and chief of surgery at the Royal Victoria Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He was born on 15 June 1924 in Calgary, Alberta, the son of Wilfred and Azilda MacLean. He studied at the University of Alberta on scholarships, graduati

Born in 1910, Francis Rundle was educated in Newcastle and graduated from Sydney University Medical School with first class honours and the University Medal in 1932. During his early training in the competitive environment of the university hospitals in London, he won the Jacksonian Prize of the Col