John Fawcett Clegg was a consultant general and vascular surgeon at Leighton Hospital, Crewe. He was born on 24 May 1939 in Hazel Grove, Cheshire, the son of Henry Fawcett Clegg and Vera Clegg née Fricker. He was educated at Epworth College, Rhyl and then, from 13, at Rugby School. He went on to St John’s College, Cambridge and Manchester for his clinical studies and qualified in 1963. His appointments on his journey to consultancy included house posts at Manchester Royal Infirmary, serving as the William Clarke research fellow in the department of urology and renal transplantation at Hammersmith Hospital (from 1965 to 1966), and registrar and senior registrar positions in surgery at Davyhulme Hospital, Manchester (from 1968 to 1969) and Manchester Royal Infirmary (from 1969 to 1973). He gained his fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 1967 and his fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1969. During his early career he was taught and influenced by several excellent doctors, including William Brockbank, Anthony Rex Anscombe, Robert Lord Holt, Douglas Andrew Kilgour Black, Ralph Shackman, James Firth Heslop, Henry Bruce Torrance and Thomas Moore. As a senior registrar he worked under Herbert Haxton, Kenneth Bloor and Anscombe. In 1973, he became a consultant surgeon at Leighton Hospital in Crewe, where he served with distinction for 27 years. From 1989 to 1992 he was clinical director at Leighton Hospital. Throughout his career, he contributed widely within professional circles, as a member of the Royal Society of Medicine, the Vascular Society of Great Britain and Ireland, the British Society of Gastroenterology and the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland. He examined for the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh from 1985 to 2005, attending exams in Saudi Arabia, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Burma and all over the UK. He served on the Specialty Advisory Committee in General Surgery from 1990 to 1995. He lectured on ‘dexon’ and wound healing in his early career and was later a lecturer for the Royal College of Surgeons of England on the northern Indian course in general surgery, and for the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in Madras, Damascus and Kuwait. He was a surgical tutor at Leighton Hospital. He was a member of the Crewe Area Health Authority from 1977 to 1984, president of Liverpool and Northwest Society of Surgeons from 1988 to 1990, president of the surgical section of Manchester Medical Society in 1998 and chairman of the British section of the International Society of Surgery from 1990 to 2000. He wrote and presented 52 papers throughout his career and had experience in medico-legal reporting and attending courts as an expert witness. Although as a general surgeon he enjoyed all forms of surgery, his primary passion was for vascular surgery. He had the strength of character and skills to negotiate the numerous and difficult aortic aneurysm repairs he performed in his long career. Vascular surgery at Leighton Hospital and the profile of the hospital itself progressed enormously due to his position there and the research he carried out. After his retirement from Leighton Hospital in 2000, he travelled to Kitovu Hospital in Uganda. There, he volunteered as a general surgeon for several weeks a year between 2001 and 2006. He would have continued this for many more years, but sadly declining health prevented him doing so. He talked about these trips with great enjoyment and enthusiasm. His work there made an enormous difference to many people who otherwise would have had no chance of leading a normal life. In October 1969, John married Hilary Mary Crabtree. They were blessed with three daughters: Alison, Fiona and Charlotte. Beyond medicine, he enjoyed sportsmanship and camaraderie, serving as captain and president of Sandiway Golf Club and a member of the Blasters Golfing Society. He worked exceedingly hard at both surgery and golf (achieving a handicap of one) and enjoyed every minute of it. He died on 23 October 2023. His career spanned decades of surgical practice, education, research and leadership, enriching institutions and professionals across Britain. He will be remembered for his service, leadership and the thoughtful encouragement he offered – both in the operating theatre and in everyday life. John was a deeply religious man. His upbringing had installed in him a great sense of decency and humanity: he treated everyone the same. He always championed the underdog and if anyone was in trouble or needed a bit of help then John was there. He never said a mean word about anyone. John Clegg was a hugely talented surgeon. He took on the almost impossible vascular cases and many a patient lived to fight another day thanks to his skills. He was a ‘larger than life’ character who loved his surgical career, his family and people in general, whoever they were. He had a great sense of humour, fun and influenced many lives throughout his 84 years.