Appajappa Vasanth Kumar was born in Bangalore on 19 July 1936, the son of Morasu Appajappa Kumar, a doctor, and his wife, Suseelamma Morasu. He had two sisters who also qualified in medicine and both married doctors. After attending Rameswara Primary School and Fort Middle School in Bangalore, he went to Tiptur High School and Chitaldurg College. At Mysore Medical College, he was an all India merit scholar from 1953 to 1959 when he graduated MB, BS. After house jobs at the KR Hospital in Mysore and the KRF Mining Hospital, he became a lecturer in anatomy at Bangalore Medical College. After travelling to the UK, he held senior house officer appointments at the Cheshire Joint Sanatorium and at hospitals in Stafford, Doncaster, Chester and Stockport. He passed the fellowship of the college in 1972 and worked as a registrar in Bishop Auckland before being appointed consultant in accident and emergency medicine at Stafford District General Hospital, where he worked from 1975 to 2000. He was a member of the British Association for Emergency Medicine, a fellow of the Faculty of Emergency Medicine and a member of the Skills for Psychological Recovery Training Committee. He enjoyed photography, fell walking in the Lake District, listening to classical music and gardening. On 5 May 1973 he had married Jean, a nurse, and they had three children: Paul Ravi (born c.1976), David Anil (born c.1978) and Ruth Asha (born c.1980). When he compiled his cv form they were studying physics, engineering and music respectively. He died on 26 May 2022 aged 86.