Dipak Khandubhai Desai, first son of Khandubhai Desai, a medical practitioner, and of Lilayatiben Desai, was born in Naysan, India, on 2 January 1932. He was educated at Naysan High School, Elphinstone College and then Grant Medical College, Bombay. After resident appointments there he held various postgraduate posts in the United Kingdom, at Lewisham, Surbiton, Boston, Ashford in Kent, and Workington, passing the FRCS in 1964. After returning to Bombay he practised surgery in his own private hospital. In 1964 he married Dr Sushilon, who practised as a gynaecologist and anaesthetist. They had two daughters and a son. There is no record of the precise date of his death.