Robert George Nighy Thomson, always known as Bob, was a urologist for Preston and Chorley hospitals. He was born in Northern Ireland on 23 May 1935. His father, Douglas Charles Thomson, was an electrical engineer; his mother, Margaret Elsie Thomson née Nighy, was a nurse. He grew up in Weybridge, where he attended St George’s College, attaining prizes for French and the school debating prize. He attended St Bartholomew’s Medical School and qualified with the conjoint examination in 1959 and the MB BS in 1960. After training in Reading, London and Liverpool, where he was a fellow of the Merseyside Association for Kidney Research from 1967 to 1968, in 1970 he was appointed as a consultant urologist to Preston and Chorley. We had adjacent wards and operating theatres and were colleagues for over 40 years. At this time, Preston was very busy and desperately understaffed – there were only two urologists for the whole of the area including Blackpool and up to Lancaster, as well as Chorley and South Ribble. His working week was always seven days, regardless of whether he was on call or not. All patients were seen daily and many twice a day. Bob’s enthusiasm, teaching and operative techniques were in high demand both by patients and also by juniors in training. Advice and joint projects and papers were regular features with juniors. At the hospital, he was renowned for enormous lists, no cancellations and excellent communication skills, particularly with those unfortunate enough to have cancer. He was clinical director of surgery from 1991 to 1994 and president of the Preston Medico-Ethical Society. He was on the committee for St Joseph’s Hospital, a private hospital in the centre of Preston, and then on the planning committee for Fulwood Hall Hospital when demand outgrew St Joseph’s. Patients were paramount, as were his large and extended family. His latest great grandchild was born just weeks before he died. He married Helen in 1961 and she kept the home fires burning superbly over the years, as well as working as a medical secretary. Sunday lunches and Christmas meals were her forte for all the family. When one of the four children got her PhD as a psychologist, Bob was delighted and said she was the only ‘real doctor’ in the family! He had many interests outside medicine, including bridge, gardening and golf. He was not only the ex-captain of Preston Golf Club, but for years was one of the medical volunteers at the open golf tournaments, both locally and in Scotland. For over 14 years he was also a doctor for the Diocese of Lancaster, taking patients on trips to Lourdes. He seemed to have used up several of his nine lives over the years: he was cured of cancer in the 1970s, had a subarachnoid bleed in the 1980s and, more recently, had a bypass and stents for arterial blockage in the groin! Nothing seemed to get him down or stopped him from leaping back to work at the first available opportunity. Meetings, get-togethers and parties for all staff were a regular occurrence in the Thomson calendar. He showed us all how it should be done and in the local community he became the doctors’ urological doctor. Bob died on 1 September 2019 at the age of 84 and was survived by his wife Helen, children Catherine, Andrew, Joanne and Gillian, 11 grandchildren and five great grandchildren. His wise counsel and enthusiasm will be sadly missed.