Robert Laird was surgeon-in-chief and professor of surgery at Toronto Western Hospital, Canada. He was born in Brockville, Ontario, on 5 October 1902, the second child and only son of Robert Laird, a clergyman, and Henrietta Laird née Odell. He was educated at North Toronto High School and Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, where he gained his BA in 1923. As an undergraduate he enjoyed rowing. He then went on to the University of Toronto medical school, qualifying MD in 1928. From 1928 to 1935 he was based at Toronto General Hospital. He then joined Toronto Western Hospital. Between 1943 and 1946, during the Second World War, he served in the Royal Canadian Air Force as a wing commander. He returned to Toronto Western Hospital in 1946, as chief surgeon and professor of surgery. After 20 years' service to Toronto Western Hospital, he continued his work as chief-of-staff at York Finch Hospital until his retirement 1972. He then devoted the rest of his life to developing medical care in Nigeria, where he established a medical school. In 1979 one of the libraries in the University Health Network in Toronto was named the RC Laird Library in his honour. He was president of the Canadian Association of Clinical Surgeons and president of the Academy of Medicine, Toronto. In 1933 he married Kathleen Bryant. They had five daughters, two of whom became nurses and one a physiotherapist. Robert Clarence Laird died in December 1990. He was 88.