Born at Parkville, Melbourne, 3 November 1905, he was educated at Prince's Hill State School, at Scotch College, Melbourne, where he was a scholar and second to the school *dux*, and at Ormond College where he won the first-year exhibition in natural philosophy. He held resident posts at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, the Children's and Women's hospitals, and the Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital. He was in England during 1935-37 working at Ancoats Hospital, Manchester, and St Bartholomew's and the Royal Eye Hospital in London, and then returned to practise in Melbourne. During the war of 1939-45 he served as an ophthalmic specialist with the Australian Imperial force, in Western Australia, in the Northern Territory and at Bougainville in the Pacific. He was appointed assistant surgeon to the Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital in 1946 and surgeon in 1949. He was honorary secretary of the Victoria division of the Ophthalmological Society of Australia and chairman of its visual hygiene committee. He practised at 32 Collins Street, Melbourne. He achieved high rank in Freemasonry and was an active member of the Fitzroy Football Club and the Melbourne Cricket Club. He Married Dulcie Allen in 1944. Gerstman died of poliomyelitis at 20 Bruce Street, Toorak on 22 June 1954 aged 49, survived by his wife and their two young sons. Publications: Retrobulbar neuritis in returning prisoners of war, *Trans Ophthal Soc Australia* 1946, 6, 85.