Boris Lewin was born in Poland in 1913 and graduated at Cape Town in 1938. He then held house appointments at King Edward VIII Hospital in Durban and joined the South African Army Medical Corps on the outbreak of war. He was posted to a field ambulance in Egypt and shortly afterwards became a prisoner of war at Tobruk, spending the next three years at camps in Tripoli, Italy and Germany. He was repatriated in 1945 and returned to his surgical training in Cape Town. He came to England in 1947 to take the FRCS and was then appointed senior lecturer in the department of surgery at the University of Witwatersrand. After two years he was appointed principal surgeon and Professor of Surgery at the Coronation Hospital, Johannesburg, where he remained until his retirement in 1979. Boris Lewin ran two busy surgical units at Coronation Hospital and was always available for help, advice and assistance. He was an extremely conscientious man, of great warmth, kindness and integrity and strongly aware of the clinical and emotional needs of his patients. He was an excellent undergraduate teacher and greatly loved his teaching work so that he continued after his retirement as a part-time tutor in surgery. He was also an unfailing attender at surgical forum and weekly clinical meetings to which he made valuable contributions. He is fondly remembered for his helpfulness and understanding towards his colleagues. There is no record as to whether he ever married and he died suddenly in Johannesburg on 16 July 1981.