Ross McMillan Adie was a general surgeon in Victoria, Australia. He was born on 14 February 1938, the son of Godfrey David Adie, an accountant, and Beatrice Mavis Adie née Burgess. His uncle, William John Adie, was a neurologist in London. Adie was educated at Essendon High School and went on to study medicine at Melbourne University, qualifying in 1962 with honours in medicine, obstetrics and gynaecology. He spent the next five years training at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, and then in 1968 became a lecturer in surgery at the University of Singapore. A year later, he went to the UK, as a registrar at Hammersmith Hospital in London. He also gained his FRCS in 1969. In 1970, he was a research fellow at Cleveland Metropolitan Hospital, Cleveland, USA. He subsequently returned to Victoria, Australia. Outside medicine, he enjoyed golf and fly fishing. He married Janet Margaret McColl in 1961. They had a son and two daughters. Adie died in 2015.