Lehonde Lucas Hoare (usually known as ‘Frosty’) was born in Adelaide, Australia on 10 January 1927. His father, Harry William Lehonde Hoare worked as a merchant and, as a sprinter, was a distinguished amateur athlete. His mother Edith, the daughter of a journalist, was well known as a pianist. He attended Woollahra School in Sydney and won a scholarship to Sydney Boys’ High School after which he went to Prince Alfred College, Adelaide. At Adelaide University Medical School he studied medicine and was a resident at the Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH) in 1949. He travelled to the UK and spent some time working for the fellowship of the college which he passed in 1954 and became a registrar at the Leamington and Warwick Hospitals from 1954 to 1956. On his return to Australia, he rejoined the staff of the RAH as a senior registrar until 1959, honorary assistant surgeon until 1969, honorary surgeon and honorary visiting surgeon from 1971 to 1979. During this time there he was mentored by Alan Lendon, Russell Barbrook and Alistair Mc Eachern – all Australian fellows of the college. When he was appointed consultant surgeon he took flying lessons so that he could fly himself to consultations in rural areas which he then proceeded to do. He was instrumental in founding a paraplegic unit at the RAH and eventually became the first part time director of the South Australia Spinal Injuries Unit. A member of the State Committee of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, he was also, for a time, president of the Australian Association of Surgeons. Outside medicine he enjoyed learning foreign languages, breeding thoroughbred horses and gardening. In 1954 he married Betty née Muir, whose family was from the Orkneys. They had two sons and two daughters. He died on 8 October 2016, aged 89.