David Moffat was professor of anatomy at Cardiff University. He was born in Swansea on 3 October 1921. His father, William Burns Moffat, was a master tailor; his mother, Christine Alice Moffat née Williams, was a housewife. Moffat attended Swansea Grammar School and began studying medicine at St Bartholomew’s Medical School just as the Second World War was starting. After the shortened wartime course, he qualified with the MRCS LRCP in 1943. He was a house surgeon for six months at Barts and then joined the Royal Navy as a surgeon lieutenant, serving until 1946. He was posted to various naval air stations and survived several Atlantic convoys. After the war, he remained in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and achieved the rank of surgeon captain on the minesweeper *St David*. Following his demobilisation, he returned to Barts as a surgical chief assistant to J Basil Hume. In 1947, he went back to Wales, where he was an anatomy demonstrator in Cardiff. He stayed in the city, becoming a senior lecturer in 1962 and gaining a personal chair in 1970. Also in 1970, he was appointed as an honorary surgeon to the Queen. He formally retired in 1988 and then spent several years teaching in Iraq until the start of the Gulf War in 1990. His early research was on the structure, function and development of blood vessels, encompassing several organ systems. He was awarded an MD in 1960 for his work on the aortic arch system and the arteries of the brain. He later researched the vascular pattern of the kidney. He was editor of the *Journal of Anatomy* from 1986 to 1990 and was a prolific writer, writing, among other titles, *The blood vessels of the kidney* (Oxford, Blackwell, 1971) with Julia Fourman, and *Human embryology and genetics* (Oxford, Blackwell, 1972) with Felix Beck and John Lloyd. In retirement, Moffat continued to write, including *Lecture notes on anatomy* (Oxford, Blackwell Scientific, 1987) and *Anatomy at a glance* (Oxford, Blackwell Publishing, 2002). He listed his interests as sailing, fell-walking, travel and oil painting. After he finally retired he enjoyed walking in the Lakeland Fells and across Gower beaches with his wife Joan (née Coltman), whom he married in 1944. Predeceased by his wife, Moffat died on 21 May 2017 at the age of 95. He was survived by his two sons and daughter, seven grandsons and five great grandchildren.