Wallace Stewart Foulds was born in London on 26 April 1924, when his father James worked at the Treasury being, at one time, a PA to Lloyd George. He had also worked as a conciliation officer to Nye Bevan, the instigator of the National Health Service. His mother was Nellie Margaret née Stewart; she was a keen botanist and shared with her son an encyclopaedic knowledge of plants and nature. Both his parents were of Scots origin and the family returned to Scotland when his father moved to the Board of Trade in Edinburgh. Wallace attended George Watson’s College and Paisley Grammar School. Keen to continue his science experimentation at home, he managed to cause an explosion in his treehouse which left him with high-tone deafness for life. He studied medicine at Glasgow University and graduated MB, ChB in 1946. The following year he commenced two years national service as a flying officer in the RAF. Based at Tempelhof Airport, he was part of the Berlin airlift and the horrific plane crashes that he witnessed at this time were to leave a lasting impression on him. He did house jobs at the Western Infirmary in Glasgow before moving to London to begin his ophthalmological training at Moorfields Eye Hospital and then University College Hospital. He passed the fellowship of the college in 1953 and was appointed consultant and senior lecturer at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, combining this with a research post at the Institute of Ophthalmology in London for two days a week. In 1964 he was appointed professor of ophthalmology at the Tennant Institute of Ophthalomology at the University of Glasgow and with customary energy threw himself into the task of developing a worldwide reputation for the unit. He was an examiner at the college and a council member of the Faculty of Ophthalmologists. When the faculty and the Ophthalmic Society of the UK united to form the Royal College of Ophthalmologists, he served as its first president. At the Royal Society of Medicine he was secretary of the section of ophthalmology and a member of council. Among the numerous degrees and awards he received, he particularly valued the honorary DSc he was given by Strathclyde University in recognition of his advances in interdisciplinary research and uniting scientific research with clinical practice. Particularly specialising in the fields of retinal detachment, glaucoma and other eye disorders, he was a dextrous surgeon to whom large numbers of grateful patients owed their sight A prolific author, he continued to write and attend international conferences well after retirement age and up until the age of 93 he continued to commute between Glasgow and Singapore lecturing and helping to establish the Singapore Eye Research Council which became a centre of excellence. A man of enormous energy, he enjoyed holidays in Argyll where he had been on family holidays with his parents and at his holiday home in Lochgair. He loved swimming, sailing and diving, continuing to scuba dive and snorkel until well into his 60s. In Lochgair he worked on house improvements and built small boats. When fishing for crabs he once caught a huge lobster and, finding he had no pot big enough, insisted on cooking it in the ward steriliser to the chagrin of the sister in charge. A few years before he died he sailed single-handed for 36 hours around the Mull of Kintyre in his boat Assegai. In 1947, while still in the RAF, he married Margaret Holmes née Walls (she was his childhood sweetheart) and they were together for 64 years until she predeceased him. They had three children, Iain, Margaret and Alison of whom the two eldest went into medicine. There were six grandchildren and five great grandchildren. In 2018 he suffered a stroke and he also suffered, ironically, from macular degeneration. He died on 12 November 2020, aged 96. Such was his worldwide influence that a customs officer at Heathrow who asked him to open his case, saw his name on the label, closed the bag and said *It’s a pleasure to meet you Professor Foulds, you saved the sight of my uncle in India 25 years ago and are regarded as a hero by our family*.