Carl Theodorus Moller was born in South Africa in 1911 and was the son of Carel Theodorus Moller, a distinguished surgeon and fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, who was the Medical Superintendant of Germiston Hospital . An early meeting with Francois P Frouché, the internationally renowned orthopaedic surgeon, was to profoundly influence his life. After studying medicine at the University of the Witwatersrand, he graduated in 1934 and passed the fellowship of the college in 1940. After also passing the fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, he began to practice orthopaedic surgery in Johannesburg. During his time as a consultant at the Johannesburg Children’s Hospital he was known as a compassionate and sympathetic surgeon always able to draw on his past experience. A great believer in the healing power of time, he gave a Francois P Frouché Memorial lecture entitled *The time factor in orthopaedics*. In July 1942, he was a founder member of the orthopaedic surgeons group known as the *Group of Five*. In 1952 the group was formally recognised as the South African Orthopaedic Association at a combined meeting of the English speaking orthopaedic associations in London. He served as president of the association from 1955 to 1957 and was on the executive committee until 1977. He was a councillor on the national executive of the South African Medical Association and was also on the Fee Committee. Embracing the role of elder statesman he was very much looked up to, and often consulted by, his younger colleagues. When his second wife died, he moved to Cape Town and died at his daughter’s house on 14 July 2003. He was survived by a son who is an anaesthetist and three daughters one of whom married a general surgeon.