Donald Insley Pert was a dental surgeon in Auckland, New Zealand. He was born on 7 September 1928, the son of Alexander William Pert and Ada Lilian Pert née Insley. He studied dentistry, gained his BDS, and became a fellow of the Faculty of Dental Surgery of the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1958. He was also a fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Dental Surgeons. He worked as a dental surgeon in Auckland. In 1979 he helped identify victims of the Mount Erebus disaster, when a New Zealand plane crashed into Mount Erebus on Ross Island, Antarctica, killing all 257 passengers and crew. He wrote ‘Dental aspects of the Mt Erebus disaster’ in the *New Zealand Dental Journal* (1980 Oct;76[346]:187-93) and was awarded the New Zealand Special Service Medal in recognition of his work. Pert died on 7 December 2018 at the age of 90. Predeceased just a few months earlier by his wife of 66 years, Oreti (née Stewart), he was survived by his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.