Chris O’Brien was a professor of surgery at the University of Sydney and director of the Sydney Head and Neck Cancer Institute. Born into a working-class family on 3 January 1952 in Regents Park, a suburb of Sydney, he attended Parramatta Marist High School, where he was school captain, captain of the first rugby team and dux of the class of 1969. He went on to study medicine at the University of Sydney, qualifying in 1976. After completing his residency and surgical training at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital (RPAH) in Sydney, he specialised in head and neck surgery and completed clinical fellowships in the UK and USA. In 1987 he returned to Australia, where he joined the staff of the RPAH as a consultant head and neck surgeon. He oversaw the expansion of the clinical service there, making it one of the largest in the country. He became director of the Sydney Cancer Centre based at RPAH and the University of Sydney, professor of surgery at the University of Sydney, director of the Sydney Head and Neck Cancer Institute, and director of cancer services for the Sydney South West Area Health Service. In 1998 he founded the Australian and New Zealand Head and Neck Cancer Society, a multidisciplinary society of surgeons, oncologists and allied health professionals, and was president in 2004. He was the author of over 100 scientific papers and 17 book chapters and lectured widely overseas, including giving the Hayes Martin Lecture in Washington in 2004, the Eugene Myers international Lecture in Los Angeles 2005, the inaugural Jatin P Shah Lecture in Prague in 2006 and the Semon Lecture in London in 2006. He was made a fellow of the Faculty of Dental Surgery of the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 2007. He was known to the Australian public through his appearances on *RPA*, a television documentary series showing the everyday life of the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. He first appeared on the series in 1997. In November 2006 he was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumour (glioblastoma multiforme) and stepped down from his clinical and administrative positions to focus on his treatment. He had brain surgery on five occasions, as well as radiotherapy and chemotherapy. He detailed his experiences in his book *Never say die* (Pymble, New South Wales, Harper Collins Publishers, 2008). In 2005 he was made a Member of the Order of Australia for his services to medicine and, shortly before his death on 4 June 2009, he was awarded an Officer of the Order of Australia. He was given a state funeral at St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney. He was survived by his wife Gail and children. In November 2013 the Chris O’Brien Lifehouse, an integrated cancer treatment centre, part of the Sydney Cancer Centre, was named in his honour and opened to patients.