George Forbes Abercrombie (known as Forbes) was a urologist in Portsmouth. Born on 28 March 1935 in Edinburgh, he was the son of George Abercrombie, a general practitioner, and his wife, Maria. His father was the first president of the section of general medicine at the Royal Society of Medicine in 1950 and founded the Royal College of General Practitioners, serving as its president from 1969 to 1972. He attended Charterhouse School before going up to Caius College, Cambridge and reading medicine at Saint Bartholomew’s Hospital Medical School. Having been appointed a house surgeon at Bart’s in 1958, he worked closely with Alec Badenoch who fostered his interest in urology. Following his time there, he did house jobs at Great Ormond Street Hospital, the Royal Northern, Leicester Royal Infirmary and the Institute of Urology in London. He passed the fellowship of the college in 1965. On developing a major interest in reconstructive urology, particularly the repair of hypospadias, he moved to Philadelphia in the USA to work with John Duckett and study his techniques. In 1971 he became the first solely urological consultant at Saint Mary’s Hospital in Portsmouth. Together with his colleague John Vinnicombe, he forged an outstanding urology department which became the only one in the Wessex region recognised for senior registrar training. A technique for which he was renowned was the ‘rip and pluck’ method of nephroureterectomy. He retired from Saint Mary’s in 1995 and spent four months the following year as a locum consultant urologist at the North Western Regional Hospital in Burnie, Tasmania. While there he greatly enjoyed the climate, the people and the lack of bureaucracy. He had a reputation as a keen and enthusiastic teacher. A strong supporter of the section of urology of the RSM, he encouraged all his trainees to do research and present the results at its meetings. Honorary secretary for a time, in 1993 he was president and famed for hosting a memorable overseas meeting in Breckenridge, Colorado. He was also a member of council of the British Association of Urological Surgeons and a liveryman of the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries. Outside medicine he enjoyed fishing, chess and golf. Captain of the Hayling Island golf club he used to remark that he was *the best golfer in the chess club and the best chess player in the golf club*. His enthusiastic fishing trips on the river Brora in Scotland were said to have produced many entertaining stories but few salmon. After suffering from Parkinson’s disease for several years he died on 27 December 2017 aged 82 and was survived by his wife Jennifer, sons Colin and John, and three grandchildren.