Patrick ('Paddy') Collins was professor of surgery at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and a consultant surgeon at Jervis Street Hospital, Dublin, and later at Beaumont Hospital. Paddy was the eldest of five children born to Patrick Archibald 'Archie' Collins and Mary Ann (née Collins). Both parents were school teachers in a rural setting in County Cork. In many ways he had a sad life: his father died at a young age, as did his two sisters, as well one of his brothers and his first wife, Pauline Higgins. Pauline was an anaesthetist at Derby Royal Infirmary when they met. His second wife, Catherine McGovern, was a theatre sister at Jervis Street Hospital. He was educated at the Presentation Brothers College, Cobh, before proceeding to University College Cork. He had a brilliant student career with continuous first class honours and qualified with a first class honours degree. He was awarded the Henry Hutchinson Stewart scholarship in physiology, a scholarship open to all medical schools in Ireland. He played rugby for University College Cork and was awarded an interprovincial cap for Munster (in the days before professional rugby). He qualified in 1947, a time of much hardship in Ireland and when most aspiring young doctors left Ireland for the UK. Unlike many of his generation, Paddy returned. During his training years he worked in London, Cardiff, Derby, Sheffield and Boston. He worked with three master surgeons of that time: Norman Tanner of St James's Hospital, Balham, internationally renowned for gastrectomy and hernia repair; Dick Cattell at the Lahey Clinic, Boston, who introduced him to what was to be his life-long interest, biliary reconstruction; and James Lytle of Sheffield, who taught him about hernia. He was awarded the Ainsworth scholarship from University College Cork, which facilitated him going to the Lahey Clinic in 1953. In 1959 returned to Ireland as a consultant surgeon at Jervis Street Hospital, where he rapidly set about establishing a respected department of surgery. He developed a tertiary referral unit for repair of bile duct injuries. Paddy was a dedicated teacher to both students and surgical trainees. His Sunday morning postgraduate teaching round was a major attraction for those sitting for surgical exams. With others he set up the Irish Postgraduate Surgical Training Scheme. Many young Irish surgical trainees benefited from this and his commitment to surgical training. His main contribution to surgical literature was in the area of the biliary tract. Paddy was elected to many important societies. He was president of the Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland and of the Pancreatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, a founder member and governor of the Irish chapter of the American College of Surgeons, a member of the Warner Cole Surgical Society in Chicago and of the council of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. Paddy was a charismatic and lovable character. He was a big man in every sense. He had no family, but lived life to the full helping others. He enjoyed fly fishing every May. He died on 15 April 1999 at the age of 76. He was survived by his second wife, Catherine.