Tony Low was born in Kurri Kurri, New South Wales, on 27 June 1940. His father, David Irving Low, was a general practitioner. His mother was Dorothy Campbell née Byrns. He was educated at the Scots College, Sydney, and St Andrew's College, University of Sydney. He did junior posts at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney, and then went to England to obtain the Fellowship. He was a registrar at the City General Hospital in Stoke on Trent and the Royal Hospital, Sheffield, where he developed an interest in urology under John Williams. He returned to Australia, to the Royal Perth Hospital in 1970, and passed the new Australasian specialist FRACS in urology the following year. He married Joan Marie Bacon in 1967. They had two sons. He died on 9 December 2001.