Michael W L Gear, a consultant at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital, Gloucester, was the foremost surgeon of his generation in Gloucestershire. He was born on 23 September 1933, the son of Harry Sutherland Gear, a specialist in public health who went on to become secretary general of the World Medical Association, and Joyce Gear née Leishman, daughter of Sir William Leishman, the eminent parasitologist and director general of the Army Medical Service. Mike trained in medicine in Cape Town, where his father had been posted, and then in Oxford. He held training posts in London, Birmingham and Oxford and undertook important research in gastric disease in Oxford, resulting in the award of his DM and MCh degrees and many important publications. He continued his research interests whilst in Gloucester and this resulted, too, in many important publications. His CV recounts that he performed just about 10,000 operations as a consultant. Although he was initially appointed as a general surgeon to Gloucester Health Authority in 1970, through the years he became more specialised in gastroenterological services. He was a pioneer of endoscopy in Gloucestershire and was also in the vanguard of the development of laparoscopic surgery in the UK and performed the first laparoscopic cholecystectomy in the county in 1991. Friends and colleagues will remember Mike as the most affable and yet dynamic of colleagues. His skills were not only in the development of surgery, but he also had considerable academic prowess. Indeed, he was one of the leaders of the development of the collaboration with Cranfield University, which bestowed a professorship upon him in 1996. Although he had formally retired from surgical practice the year before, he continued supporting that important research institution for some years after. He was also involved in many national institutions and societies. He was vice president for endoscopy at the British Society of Gastroenterology from 1993 to 1995 and was elected president of the South West Surgeons Club. He was a tutor at the Royal College of Surgeons of England and an examiner to Oxford University Medical School. Outside of work, Mike was a keen sailor and was often found navigating the lochs of Scotland, where he had a second home. He was a loving family man. His first wife, Sally, predeceased him in 2001. His second wife, Penny, also predeceased him just a year before his own passing. He had two daughters, Susie and Nicky, and three grandchildren. Mike died peacefully at home on 29 January 2024. He was 90 and had been suffering from Alzheimer’s disease since 2013. He bore his debility with his typical stoical and easy-going style. Mike had an extraordinary talent to reach out to others working in medicine. Surgeons, anaesthetists, physicians, radiologists, pathologists, general practitioners, nursing staff and theatre technicians will all remember him fondly as an extraordinarily energetic and yet genial character.