Alan Harding Lendon was born in Adelaide on 11 August 1903, the youngest son of Dr Alfred Austin Lendon who had been a prominent member of the profession in South Australia. He was educated at St Peter's College, Adelaide and at Adelaide University where he won the Davies Thomas Prize in 1924 and 1926, and the Everard Scholarship in 1927, the year of his graduation with the MB BS degree. He was secretary of the University Sports Association and won a blue for rifle-shooting. After a little over a year as RMO at the Royal Adelaide Hospital he came over to London to obtain the English Fellowship which he did in 1931. On his return to Adelaide he became private assistant to Sir Henry Newland and held a succession of appointments at the Royal Adelaide Hospital: honorary clinical assistant 1932-1935; honorary assistant surgeon 1935-1947; honorary surgeon 1947-1963; and honorary consulting surgeon 1963. During the second world war Lendon served with the Australian Army Medical Corps from 1940-1946 in the United Kingdom, the Middle East, Ceylon, and Australia, attaining the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel and being mentioned in despatches. After demobilization he devoted much attention to teaching and to organization of surgical education, being appointed a lecturer in surgery in the University of Adelaide in 1948, and Director of Surgical Studies from 1953 till 1958, when the first Professor of Surgery displaced him. He proved an extremely efficient administrator, and both teaching staff and students appreciated his interest in their work and his availability as a counsellor. His guidance in matters of hospital administration was also highly valued by his colleagues on the Board of Management. In addition to his clinical and administrative duties in Adelaide, Lendon had to make frequent journeys to Melbourne in the service of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, of which he became a Fellow in 1933. He was on the Court of Examiners from 1950-63, and Chairman of the Court from 1957-1963. He served on the Council of the College from 1955-1967, being Junior Vice-President in 1963-1966 and Senior Vice-President in 1966 and 1967. Undoubtedly the College was his chief professional interest over a period of nearly 20 years, and his service to the College was not limited to the meetings in Melbourne, since from 1948 till 1967 he was a member of the South Australian State Committee, having been its secretary in the early days and its Chairman from 1951 till 1964. It is also noteworthy that he was a member of the Court of Examiners of the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1953. It is inevitable that this account of Alan Lendon's life should emphasize his outstanding achievements as a teacher, an organizer, and a committee man, but a note must be added about his qualities as a practising surgeon. He was generally regarded as a sound clinician and a safe, reliable operator, but he was not an innovator, nor did he make any significant contribution to surgical literature. On the other hand, he will be remembered gratefully by many of his assistants whom he helped to obtain the FRACS diploma. Lendon played golf, and was an enthusiastic spectator of cricket, but his chief leisure interest was bird-watching, and at one time he was President of the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union, and a member of other associations interested in the local wild life. He was an authority on Australian parrots, and revised and partly re-wrote Neville W Cayley's *Australian parrots in field and aviary*. In 1933 he married Margaret Edmunds and they had two sons and a daughter. It was unfortunate that his latter years were marred by ill-health which he bore with fortitude, but he died on 12 July 1973. His wife and family survived him.