Barry Shandling was born in South Africa on 20 February 1928 and graduated in medicine from the University of Cape Town in 1950. While he was in training he was inspired by the surgeons Christian Barnard and Jannie Louw. On travelling to the UK he did house jobs at the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street and passed the fellowship of the college in 1953. In 1961 he emigrated to Canada and, after two years‘ further training, joined the staff of the Hospital for Sick Children (now known as SickKids) in 1963. In the 35 years he was to spend at the hospital he had a huge influence on the practice of peadiatric surgery in Canada and, indeed, internationally. In 1972 he was the first surgeon in Canada to successfully separate Siamese twins and was one of the earliest paediatric surgeons to use laparoscopy in the management of the intraabdominal testis. Throughout his professional life he was deeply involved in helping juvenile victims of faecal incontinence and was appointed director of the bowel clinic at the Hugh Macmillan Medical Centre (now the Bloorville Macmillan Medical Centre) which was referred to by his trainees as the *stool school*. He pioneered the first punch biopsy technique for the diagnosis of Hirschsprung disease, and he performed the first Kasai procedure for biliary atresia in Canada. Recognised as an inspirational teacher, his juniors enjoyed spending the day with him in his outpatient clinic, referred to by them as the *hernia shack*. He demanded the highest standards and a favourite ritual of his was to walk his trainees briskly up six flights of stairs and then *grill them mercilessly on basic anatomy, physiology, and pediatric surgical history before they had a chance to catch their breath* .In 1967 he founded the Canadian Association of Pediatric Surgeons, was its first secretary-treasurer from 1967 to 1974 and its 6th president from 1981 to 1983. Known for his sense of humour, his referral letters were much prized. He retired in 1996. He was a member of the Royal Comonwealth Society and the Churchill Society. In his spare time he enjoyed fly-fishing, cooking, listening to music, studying the use of the English language and history. In 1959, while he was in London, he married Mary Elizabeth née Gordon. She survived him when he died on 1 October 2016 aged 88. He was also survived by their children Susan (married to Byron), Ian (married to Clare) and Alexandra (married to Richard) and grandchildren, Graham and Emma Bignell, Alexander and Christopher Shandling and Elizabeth and Felix Gratton.