William Douglas Park was a consultant general surgeon at Oldchurch Hospital and King George V Hospital, Ilford. He was born in Melbourne on 15 November 1912, the son of Charles Leslie Park, a doctor, and Lilian née Davis, the daughter of a timber merchant. He was educated at Melbourne Grammar School and then, in 1924, went to England, to Sevenoaks School. He studied medicine at King’s College and Bart’s. After junior posts he worked in the Emergency Medical Service in London. After the war he was appointed to the Connaught Hospital, Walthamstow, and the King George V Hospital, Ilford, as an orthopaedic surgeon, and to Oldchurch Hospital as a general surgeon, where he developed a special interest in gastrointestinal surgery and for a time cardiac surgery, carrying out some of the first mitral valvotomies in England. He was a good technical surgeon and a fine teacher who was very supportive of his junior staff. Ever cheerful and genial, he had many hobbies, collecting antique oak furniture, oil painting and wood-carving – two of his clocks adorn committee rooms in our College. Predeceased by his wife, Pat, he is survived by two daughters (Susan and Ann) and five grandchildren. He died from bronchopneumonia on 24 August 2004.