David Francis Cort was born on 19 March 1935 in Hull, where his father was a bank manager. David was a bright student and gained a Staffordshire County scholarship which took him to Denstone College at Uttoxeter. From here he was awarded an open exhibition in natural sciences to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. He took a natural science tripos BA obtaining an upper second degree. From here he went to St George's Hospital Medical School. During the medical course he was awarded the Brodie Prize in surgery (1958) and the Brackenbury Prize in surgery in 1959. While at St George's he was very influenced by Henry Elliot Blake who first advised that he might study plastic surgery. Following house appointments at St George's he held further appointments in the United Birmingham Hospitals where he became clinical tutor to the University of Birmingham. He returned to work at the London, the Royal Masonic Hospital and finally at the United Cardiff Hospitals. In 1974 he was appointed consultant plastic surgeon to the Dudley Area Health Authority and to the Birmingham Area Health Authority. He was also appointed as plastic surgeon to the United Wordsley Hospital at Stourbridge, to the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. His particular interest was in the treatment of burns in childhood for which he used positive infusion control and wrote on this in the *British journal of plastic surgery* 1970, 23, 395-397. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine and of the British Association of Plastic Surgeons. David was a very keen gardener and had an interest in photography in the 'black and white days'. In July 1962 he married Enid Wilson. They had two sons; Jonathan, the elder, studied medicine at Sheffield and Henry gained an entrance to Oxford. David Francis Cort died on 14 December 1988, survived by his wife and family.