Professor Gerald Bernard Winter died on 22nd December 2002, aged 74. He was the father of paediatric dentistry in Britain. From the time of his appointment as Professor and Honorary Consultant in Children’s Dentistry at the Institute of Dental Surgery in London University in October 1966, he singlemindedly spearheaded a personal campaign to improve the dental health of children and the dental services available to them in this country. His approach was primarily an educational one. In the clinic he was a hard taskmaster, never accepting anything less than the best, but was revered by his postgraduate students who came from all over the world to attend the MSc course in children’s dentistry at “The Eastman”, the Dental Hospital associated with the Institute of Dental Surgery in Gray’s Inn Road. He was instrumental in developing the careers of many junior staff, who subsequently obtained senior academic or hospital appointments in this country and abroad. Gerry Winter was born in the East End of London on 24th November 1928, the only son of Maurice and Edith Winter, descendents of late 19th Century Askenazi Jewish immigrants from Russia, Poland and Austria. He graduated BDS from the dental school at the London Hospital in 1955. He completed a medical degree at the London in 1958, and gained the Diploma in Child Health in 1960 and the Fellowship in Dental Surgery (England) in 1962. He held a lectureship in children’s dentistry at the Royal Dental Hospital from 1959 to 1962 before being appointed to a consultant post at the Eastman Dental Hospital. He was greatly influenced by the then dean of the Institute, the late Sir Robert Bradlaw, who recognised the drive, honesty, plain speaking, and the desire to serve and care for others, especially the under-privileged, that were hallmarks of Gerry Winter’s character. He was appointed sub-dean at the Institute of Dental Surgery in October 1972, a post he held for eleven years before serving two five-year terms as dean and director of studies from 1984 to 1994. He represented the British Paedodontic Society (now the British Society of Paediatric Dentistry) on the Specialist Advisory Committee in Orthodontics, The Royal College of Surgeons of England from 1973 to 1985 and was instrumental in developing paediatric dentistry as an independent specialty, recognised by the Department of Health. He served as honorary secretary of the British Paedodontic Society from 1961 to 1964, and of the International Association of Dentistry for Children from 1971 to 1979, inaugural chairman of the British Society of Dentistry for the Handicapped (1976-1977) and of the Consultants in Paediatric Dentistry (1989-1994). He is the only person to become president of the British Society of Paediatric Dentistry twice, first in 1970-1971 and then in his retirement year 1993-1994. He was presented with the President's Medal by HRH The Princess Royal at the 17th Congress of the International Association of Paediatric Dentistry at its Congress in London in 1999. In his retirement he became Director of the Oral and Dental Research Trust supporting young research workers in the field. Gerry Winter is survived by his wife Eva, whom he married in 1960, and by his son and daughter.