Born in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, on September 12, 1909, the elder son of Arnold Kirz, technical manager of a textile concern, and Josephine, née Neumann. He studied at Prague University and qualified in 1935. He began his career as a surgeon as an assistant in a teaching unit. In 1939 he came to Great Britain and worked in the Victoria Memorial Hospital and the Royal Northern Hospital, Manchester before moving to London. During and after the war he worked at the North Middlesex Hospital as a resident surgical officer and assistant surgeon. He frequently assisted and worked with Mr Ivor Lewis. In 1957 he took the FRCS England. He was a great sportsman and ski-ing, tennis, swimming and mountaineering were his favourite pastimes apart from being a passionate gardener. He also had a great love and understanding for music, painting and old furniture. In 1950 he married the concert pianist Liza Fuchsova. He died on 13 April 1971, of a hypernephroma. Publications: Osteitis pubis after suprapubic operations on the bladder. *Brit J Surg* 1946/7, 34, 272. Gas gangrene after amputation under refrigeration anaesthesia - a warning. *Brit med J* 1944, 2, 662.