Roger Graham Keith was the first Fred H Wigmore professor of surgery at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada. He was born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada on 14 August 1940, the son of Wilson and Evelyn Keith. He attended Western Canada High School in Calgary, Alberta and then studied medicine at the University of Alberta, qualifying in 1964. After two years of family medicine in Calgary, he took up a general surgery residency at the University of Toronto. Roger then completed a series of fellowships: in Toulouse, France, where he worked with Jean Escat; in London with Sir Rodney Smith; in Los Angeles with William Longmire; and in Seattle with Thomas T White. In 1973, he joined the department of surgery at the University of Toronto and established his academic practice at Sunnybrook Medical Centre. In 1986, he moved to St Michael’s Hospital as head of general surgery. Four years later, Roger became the first Fred H Wigmore professor of surgery at the University of Saskatchewan, where he was head of surgery until 2005. He was director of clinical affairs at the College of Medicine in Saskatoon and chair of its faculty council from 2014 until 2016. Keith-trained surgeons work in academic and community practices all across North America today. Roger was a member of many surgical organisations, always participating on committees and often elected to leadership positions. He was president of the Canadian Association of General Surgeons (CAGS) and the Central Surgical Society. He served on the executives of the Canadian Association of Gastroenterology, the Canadian Association of Clinical Surgeons (eastern division), the Canadian Association of Surgical Chairs, the International Federation of Societies of Endoscopic Surgeons, the International Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Association and the American College of Surgeons. He was elected a director of the James IV Association of Surgeons and was a fellow of the American Surgical Association. Roger had a career-long interest in the theory of surgical examinations and held leadership roles at the R S McLaughlin Examination and Research Centre, University of Alberta, and on the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada’s examination board in general surgery. Roger’s inclusion in so many decision-making bodies is best explained by the fact that he was exceptionally perceptive about human behaviour and used wise passion to motivate organisations to do what was right. Roger adopted the new art of flexible endoscopy in the 1970s and became a leader of endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography, despite external resistance. He was convinced that flexible endoscopy made graduates better surgeons and improved their treatment of patients with gastrointestinal problems. He also developed an expertise in the critical care of patients with septic shock, until then considered unsalvageable. He introduced and developed surgical care of hepatobiliary and pancreatic malignancies. With his good friend, Andrew Warshaw, Roger developed minor duct sphincteroplasty for pancreas divisum. In his 1998 presidential address to CAGS, Roger surveyed, from a first-hand perspective, the development of Canadian surgery from the inception of the society in 1977. He was co-editor of the *Canadian Journal of Surgery* from 1992 to 1996, and was instrumental in ensuring the survival of the journal when the Royal College removed its financial support, committing CAGS to sponsorship of the publication. Roger was active in sports throughout his life, playing football and basketball at the University of Alberta and curling at the Thornhill Country Club in Toronto. Roger and his wife Nancy had a love for travel, from safaris in Africa to mingling with the penguins in Antarctica and many places in between, including being annual spectators at the British Open and regular spectators at the Canadian Open in recent years. Roger and Nancy were members of the Surgeons Travel Club, through which they shared many friendships. Roger was an active skier, hiker and canoeist with his family, and remained an active golfer throughout his time in Saskatoon as a member of the Riverside Country Club. Roger had a wonderful sense of humour, loved to share a good story and loved a good competition. He died on 15 December 2020 at the age of 80. Predeceased by his daughter Donna, he was survived by his widow Nancy, children Janet and Brian, and grandchildren Emily, Andrew and Kayleigh. He will be remembered as a loving husband, father, grandfather, brother/brother-in-law, respected colleague, caring friend and dedicated doctor. He was much loved and will be sorely missed by all that knew him