John Edward Blundell was born in London on 2 October 1920, where his parents, Ethel and Henry Blundell, were both teachers. He studied medicine at Cambridge University and served in the RAMC during the second world war working as a staff surgeon at the 48th British General Hospital in Graz, Austria. After the war he passed the fellowship of the college in 1952 and travelled to the USA, having been awarded a fellowship in neurosurgery at the Chicago Children’s Memorial Hospital in 1955. Eventually he was approached by the eminent North American neurosurgeon, Wilder Penfield, and he moved to Montreal in 1958 to be assistant neurosurgeon at Montreal Neurological Institute and lecturer in neurosurgery at McGill University. Three years later, in 1961, he became founding director of the department of neurosurgery at the Montreal Children’s Hospital. It was there that he developed his expertise in paediatric neurosurgery and demonstrated his empathy with his young patients. He retired in 1990 and was then able to spend more time on his many interests. A lover of classical music and opera, he was an accomplished flautist and played regularly with friends. His favourite opera was Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier. The family had a second home in the Vermont countryside and he enjoyed spending time there, sailing, reading and solving cryptic crosswords. After retirement he expanded his affection for Chinese language and culture by studying Mandarin. Predeceased by his wife Betty née Ball and their son Jeremy, he died on 2 April 2016 aged 95. He was survived by his daughters Jennifer (married to Gerald) and Cathy (married to George).