John Edwards was an oral and maxillofacial surgeon at Dunedin Public Hospital and Otago University dental school in New Zealand for many years. He subsequently moved to Auckland, where he was appointed to Auckland Hospital as an oral and maxillofacial surgeon, and he also ran a private practice. John was born in Dunedin in 1940, the son of Gordon Edwards, a bank manager, and Hazel Skinner. He was educated at King’s High School and studied dentistry at the University of Otago, graduating with distinction in 1963. As an undergraduate, John was president of the Dental Students Association. He was awarded the University of Otago travelling scholarship in dentistry in 1965 and underwent his postgraduate training in oral surgery in the UK from 1965 to 1969. He worked in several prestigious specialist maxillofacial units in London including Central Middlesex Hospital and Mount Vernon. John was invited to return to Dunedin in 1969 by Sir John Walsh, the dean of the dental faculty, and was appointed as a senior dental surgeon and specialist oral surgeon to the Otago Hospital Board and a senior lecturer in oral surgery at the Otago University’s faculty of dentistry. He progressed within the dental school, becoming head of the department of hospital dentistry in 1975 and then associate professor in 1978. While still at the dental school he developed and directed a national postgraduate training programme in oral and maxillofacial surgery. In 1987 John moved to Auckland to pursue private practice as an oral and maxillofacial surgeon. For 20 years he continued to work in both the public and private sectors as a senior specialist oral and maxillofacial surgeon in Auckland. He was a visiting specialist oral and maxillofacial surgeon to the Auckland Hospital Board from 1987 until he retired in 2007. John’s curriculum vitae is as impressive as it is diverse and extensive. He had significant involvement in organised dentistry within the New Zealand Dental Association (NZDA). He was chairman of the general anaesthetic and sedation guidelines committee. He was an elected specialist representative of the NZDA board. He developed a code of practice for the control of cross infection, and he was editor of the clinical update section of the *New Zealand Dental Journal.* Within the Dental Council of New Zealand, John was chairman of the specialist registration committee and the education committee. He was a member of the Dental Council’s accreditation team for postgraduate courses at Otago University and he convened a working group on specialist registration. He was chair of the clinical competence review committee. John was New Zealand vice president from 1994 to 1997 and then president of the Australian and New Zealand Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons (ANZAOMS) from 1997 to 1999. He was awarded a distinguished service award by ANZAOMS in 2003 and subsequently chaired the ANZAOMS/Accident Compensation Commission alloplastic TMJ (temporomandibular joint) registry development group. He was director of the postgraduate programme in oral and maxillofacial surgery (advanced surgical training) in Auckland from 1997 to 2007 and acted as an external examiner at a number of universities in Australia and also Otago. John advised the New Zealand government as a member of the new prescribers advisory committee of the Ministry of Health. He was an expert adviser to the health and disability commissioner, a member of the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal and an external clinical adviser to the Accident Compensation Commission. Towards the end of his career, John was also involved in hospital development. He planned and developed Quay Park Surgical Centre in Auckland city and Ormiston Hospital in South Auckland. He was a founding director of Ormiston Surgical and Endoscopy Ltd. John was made a fellow of the NZDA in 2000 and an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to dentistry in the Queen’s birthday honours list in 2008. John is one of only very few dental practitioners to have ever received such an honour. John was a very high achiever during his long and distinguished career but as a true gentleman he was always particularly modest and understated. John was an impressive man at all levels; he had that rare ‘human touch’, enabling him to relate easily to a wide range of people and this made him very popular with patients, students and staff. John was an influential and talented teacher of oral surgery, anatomy and, in particular, aspects of medicine relevant to dentistry. He taught comfortably at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. John was a humble man but a gifted surgeon capable of elegantly performing a diverse repertoire of procedures with great skill and consummate ease. In particular, he was an expert temporomandibular joint surgeon. He was a caring, ethical practitioner and an astute diagnostician with excellent judgement. Patients lucky enough to have been treated by John were indeed fortunate, as were those who had the privilege of training under him. For many of today’s oral and maxillofacial surgeons in New Zealand (and some in Australia), their choice of career was as a direct result of John’s considerable, but subtle, influence. He also had a somewhat unrecognised but substantial mentoring role for many colleagues well beyond their training years. John loved squash and, as with everything else he did, played a gentleman’s game. His deft touch and agility on the court made him difficult to beat and he was a formidable opponent playing well into his fifties. John had an exuberant love of life; he was always upbeat with a characteristic friendly demeanour. He met Margaret McRae in 1961 while they were both students at Otago; they were married for 57 years and made an outstanding team. Margaret, whilst very successful in her own right, always found the time to act as a great advocate for the specialty, attending many meetings with John. They were beautifully matched, had many shared interests and were a very well-known couple on both the dental and oral and maxillofacial surgery circuits. They had a wide circle of friends from all walks of life. Together they built a unique and magnificent home on Waiheke Island and established a beautiful olive grove. They produced widely acclaimed, high quality olive oil and a hobby quickly became a very successful business. They were gracious hosts and, above all, very proud New Zealanders. John was a deeply committed family man, devoted to Margaret, his adult children Mark and Niki, their spouses Bridget and John and his grandchildren Angus, Ella, Anna, Tom and Nicholas. He was justifiably very proud of them all. John faced a terrible diagnosis and its associated treatment with considerable bravery. In his typically understated manner, he gave those who saw him during that time a master class in dying gracefully, and with great dignity. He passed away peacefully on ANZAC Day, 25 April, in 2020 surrounded by his family. There can be no better tribute than to say that John was a most remarkable man who left this world a better place for having lived in it. His passing is a monumental loss to the speciality of oral and maxillofacial surgery, but his profound and gentle influence will persist for many generations to come.