Erling Dahl-Iverson was born on 30 November 1892 in Copenhagen. He began to study medicine in 1911 and graduated in 1925. He was appointed consultant in 1932 and given the Chair of Surgery in Copenhagen in 1935 and, shortly after, the directorship of the department of surgery in the University Hospital. He made contributions to many branches of surgery and attained international fame in surgery of the endocrine glands, publishing numerous articles. In 1947 he was made a Knight, in 1955 a Knight first class and in 1960 a Knight Commander of the Order of Danneborg. It was also in 1960, on 20 October, that Professor Dahl-Iverson was awarded the Honorary FRCS. He was Chairman of the Danish Surgical Society and general secretary of the Scandinavian Surgical Society and from 1950 he edited the *Acta chirurgica Scandinavica*. He lectured and travelled extensively and was an honorary member of a dozen surgical societies. He was Vice-President of the International Federation of Surgical Colleges, President of the International Society of Surgery and an Honorary Fellow of the American College of Surgeons. Dahl-Iverson was a kindly, warm and friendly man with a ready sense of humour and hospitable to an unlimited degree. He was devoted to his work and his family, including not only his wife and two sons but his two Scottish terriers, Finnian McDalle and Loren who followed him everywhere. He died in 1978.