Robert John Ham (Bob) initially studied for a BSc in pharmacology at London University, then graduated MB, BS in 1972 training at the London Hospital Medical College. After working at Whitechapel and Mile End Hospitals in house jobs, he moved, in 1975, as a registrar in surgery to Basildon District Hospital. Having passed the fellowship of the college in 1977, he rotated between three London hospitals: the Royal London, Queen Elizabeth Hospital for Children in Hackney and Whipps Cross. During this time he held a Pfizer research fellowship to research the development and management of vascular disorders and thromboembolism, working with V. J. Kakkar in the thrombosis unit at King’s College Hospital. In 1981 he was appointed senior registrar at the London and, in 1985, became consultant vascular surgeon. He had a reputation as a knowledgeable and empathetic surgeon. Keen to impart his expertise, he has been credited with training a generation of vascular surgeons who recalled him with affection. He responded with enthusiasm when the London set up a Helicopter Emergency Service and carried out his alloted tasks with great efficiency. A colleague recalled his slightly off beat sense of humour – he once put forward the idea of a specialised ingrowing toenail service under which he would cover only the left nails and others would do the right. He retired in 2007, due to an illness not associated with his death, but maintained his links with the hospital’s Marie Celeste Samaritan Society and showed up at committee meetings for many years. He moved to Wiltshire and had just settled into a new house when he died suddenly from renal cancer after a short illness on 16 January 2021 aged 72. His wife of 46 years, Rosalind, survived him.