George Patrikios was chief of surgery at Sebokeng Hospital, Gauteng, South Africa. He was born on 13 February 1937 in Salisbury, Rhodesia, the third child and second son of Greek parents – Nestor Theodore Patrikios, a tobacco grader, and Eudokia Patrikios née Tselentis. He was educated at the David Livingstone School and St George’s College in Salisbury, and went on to study medicine at Trinity College, Dublin. He qualified in 1961. He was a demonstrator in anatomy and a tutor in surgery at Trinity College, and a research fellow for the Medical Research Council of Ireland. He gained his FRCS in 1969. He later became the chief surgeon at Sebokeng Hospital, Gauteng, South Africa. He played rugby at Trinity, and enjoyed playing squash and wildfowling. He was married twice. In 1965, he married Helga Maria Atkinson. They had two sons, Paul and Nestor, and a daughter, Georgia. His second wife was Heidi Holland, a prominent Zimbabwean journalist. They had a son, Nick. George Patrikios died two years after being badly injured in a car crash.