Yusuf Abrahams was a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at Ealing Hospital, London. He was born in Cape Town, South Africa, into a Malay family, at a time when racial segregation was in force; Apartheid followed in 1948. His father, Hanief Abrahams, was a tailor; his mother was Gabiba Abrahams née Davids. Even though there was a large family to support, Yusuf’s father managed with great foresight to send him alone to England in 1956 for the chance of a better education. After a start at South East Essex Technical College, he eventually got the required A levels and started his preclinical studies at University College London. It must have been a difficult time, living in digs in a very strange and not totally welcoming ‘motherland’ with lots of distractions and I think some exam failures. He went on to develop a strange love of exams with the added quirk of never writing anything down in lectures or making revision notes – hence his poor handwriting that resulted from a lack of practise. At UCL as well as studying medicine he gained a BSc in physiology. His clinical years were spent at the Westminster Hospital, qualifying in 1971. It was here doing his house jobs that his love of surgery was sparked. He was trained by and later worked for some of the true surgical greats – Bobbie Cox, Charlie Westbury and Harold Ellis – and even in his final years he would reminisce about them with real admiration. Despite the onerous rotas and poor pay, he revelled in the work and the courage and competence of his consultants. Surgery in the 1970s was not for the faint hearted but for those with real clinical skills and bravery. He loved the Westminster Hospital, played rugby for them (breaking both ankles in one season) and the competition with the ‘place across the river’ (St Thomas’); a repeated threat from Harold Ellis was that if his students weren’t up to the mark they would be taken there. Originally planning to be a general practitioner, Yusuf did senior house officer jobs in renal medicine and in the accident and emergency department (picking up an MRCP on the way) and then obstetrics and gynaecology at St George’s, working with such renowned surgeons as George Pinker and David Roberts. At the time it was encouraged in London for obstetric and gynaecology trainees to take the fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, so he worked in surgery at St James’ Balham and Hillingdon hospitals and passed the final FRCS in 1977 and his membership of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in 1978. Although he decided to make his career in obstetrics and gynaecology, it was his FRCS of which he was most proud. After senior registrar jobs at the Middlesex and Central Middlesex hospitals, he took up a consultant post at Ealing Hospital in 1983. Obstetrics was based at Perivale Hospital and major gynaecological surgery was done at Ealing. This made for a very busy and happy workplace, with good colleagues and cooperation across the specialties. He loved being called in from home for emergencies and loved tackling difficult problems. Although he could be tough on trainees (no doubt picked up during his own surgical training), he was a good teacher and was greatly appreciated, although as an examiner he was classed as a hawk rather than a dove. His real interest however was clinical work rather than research or examining. He oversaw the building and opening of the new maternity unit at Ealing and it was a very different place when he retired in 2006. A year later he was back at work as a professor at the Asian Institute of Medicine, Science and Technology in Malaysia, a place not at all like Ealing Hospital and an interesting end to a long career. He married twice, to Ann Beckett in 1966, from which he had two daughters and four grandchildren, and then to me, Kate Collins, in 1975; we have two sons and two grandchildren. He went back to Cape Town firstly in around 1986, with some trepidation, but loved it there and we visited there on several occasions to meet the extended family and explore the new South Africa. In retirement he continued to play golf and enjoy art but remained essentially a family man, watching with pride and love as his family grew up. He helped a few young students with revisions and exam preparation, but times had changed. Unfortunately, his last few years were marred by ill health, but he had lived in extraordinary and rapidly changing medical times and enjoyed them so much. He died on 30 April 2023 at the age of 82.