Martin Cooper was medical director of the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, and a consultant general surgeon. He was born in 1947. At 14, having had his appendix removed, he decided he wanted to become a surgeon. Three years later, at Forest Grammar School in Winnersh, Berkshire, his biology teacher told him he wasn’t good enough to become a doctor and the deputy head said his Latin wasn’t up to scratch. He persevered, gained a place at the Royal Free Hospital school of medicine and qualified in 1971. He trained in surgery in London, Bristol and Plymouth, and spent 18 months at the University of Chicago, researching pancreatic and biliary disease. On his return to the UK, he was appointed as a lecturer and senior registrar at the University of Bristol and was promoted to senior lecturer and honorary consultant in 1984. In 1988 he joined the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital as a consultant general surgeon with an interest in upper gastrointestinal and breast disease. Four years later he became clinical director of surgery and, in 1995, led the successful process of cancer centre registration. He also established the breast service. From 2009 to 2013 he was joint medical director of the hospital and was subsequently full-time medical director from September 2013 until his retirement in March 2015. He was also medical director of the Peninsula Cancer Network and clinical director of cancer services. He was the patron of FORCE (Friends of the Radiotherapy and Oncology Centre Exeter) from 2014. He enjoyed walking, skiing, sailing, rock climbing, DIY, gardening and travel. He married Joan Mcdonagh in 1974. She became the first cancer nurse specialist to be appointed to the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital. They had a daughter Hatty and two grandchildren. Martin Cooper died after slipping on concrete cellar stairs and sustaining a head injury. He was 71.