George Decker was chief of surgery at J G Strijdom Hospital, Johannesburg, one of the five main provincial teaching hospitals of the University of the Witwatersrand. He was born in Mossel Bay, a coastal town in the Cape Province of South Africa. His parents were of Dutch and German decent; his only sister was seven years older than him. A childhood of play and discovery came to a sudden end when, at the age of 11, his father died of a perianal abscess just months before the commercial availability of penicillin. A sombre adolescence was ameliorated by his athletic and academic aptitude. He was a natural sprinter and broke the national 100-yard dash for the under-17 age group, an achievement that was celebrated in his hometown and beyond. He studied medicine at the University of Cape Town, where he continued his athletic pursuits until his second year when, in the interests of his studies, he abruptly hung up his athletic shoes. He never regretted this decision that likely portended his ability to make surgical decisions. Bert Myburgh, who became a life-long colleague and friend, was a few years his senior and on the same athletics team. After graduating in 1954, he did his internship at Groote Schuur Hospital, which included rotations under D J du Plessis and J H Louw, surgical savants who would shape his career. After senior house officer rotations in Cape Town, he left for London, where he furthered his surgical training from 1959 to 1962. After passing his primary exams at the Royal College of Surgeons in London he was interviewed by Sir Gordon Gordon-Taylor, who suggested that he gain more 'cutting' experience and recommended a post in Leicester. He worked at Leicester General Hospital under Paul Hickinbotham and he became a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1960. He then trained at the Royal Free Hospital in London for six months. In 1962 he returned to Cape Town as a surgical registrar under J H Louw. He soon met Margaret Coleman, an intern, and after a three-week romance they were engaged. They married a few months later. Margaret was born in England and moved to Zambia with her parents at the age of 14. She was George's intellectual equal and they had a happy marriage for almost 50 years until his death. They both loved medicine and enjoyed the academic challenge of making a diagnosis or improving the fate of patients far more than the monetary rewards that the profession may bring. Shortly after their marriage in 1963 they moved to England, where he accepted a senior registrar post at the Whittington Hospital in London. In his memoirs he describes fondly those times of early married life and learning in London. They returned to South Africa in 1966, where D J du Plessis offered him a consultant post at Baragwanath Hospital, originally built for convalescing British and Commonwealth soldiers in 1941, just outside Johannesburg. They settled well in Johannesburg, where his surgical and academic career at the University of the Witwatersrand advanced. Margaret built a thriving general practice from home. In 1968 he obtained an appointment in du Plessis' unit at the Johannesburg General Hospital. In 1970 he was awarded a Michael and Janie Miller travelling fellowship and spent six months pursuing mitochondrial research at the University of McGill in Montreal, Canada. He craved surgery and was grateful to be back in clinical medicine once his research had finished. He returned to Baragwanath Hospital, where he honed his surgical and teaching skills in one of the world's busiest hospitals, one that attracted students of all ages because of the vast pathology and experience to be gained. He was a constant observer, learner and educator. Most of his publications were based on clinical observations. In 1977, after observing the absence of atherosclerosis in an abdominal aortic aneurysm, he described the first case of intimomedial mucoid degeneration of the aorta in the *British Journal of Surgery* ('Abdominal aneurysm in South African Negroes due to intimomedial mucoid degeneration.' *Br J Surg*. 1977 Jul;64[7]:513-6). He also edited *Lee McGregor's synopsis of surgical anatomy* (Bristol, John Wright) in 1986. The apogee of his professional career was as chief of surgery at J G Strijdom Hospital, one of the five main provincial teaching hospitals of the University of the Witwatersrand. He held this position from 1977 until 1989, only leaving out of loyalty to the university and a disagreement with the provincial government when the hospital was segregated. These were his golden years as a surgeon. A student and future colleague, Moshe Schein, described him in his own memoirs: '…his surgical department functioned like a Swiss watch. I had never seen, or would after, a surgical system so closely controlled by its Boss. It worked like this: the two registrars, each supported by a team of two or three interns, shared the calls and the sixty something patients. Each patient belonged to a given registrar and his team, from admission to discharge. Period. There was no cross coverage, no "sign off", no "I'm off, could you do this case for me?" You started looking after a patient, you had to be with him at all times - until discharge or death. I remember his short, stubby fingers - he liked to use them for "finger dissection" of tissues. Each of our movements was painfully scrutinized, each knot had to slide home perfectly. One was totally exhausted after a gastrectomy with him but the gastrectomy was perfect, like the ones he had been doing previously with his old British masters.' After leaving J G Strijdom Hospital his career was never quite the same. He was appointed professor of surgery, but this was of less importance to him. All he wanted professionally was to be an inquisitive and technically excellent surgeon who ran a near-perfect surgical teaching unit where patients were cared for with meticulous attention. He continued to operate and teach in a variety of hospitals well into retirement, but quietly longed for the heydays when he ran one of the best kept surgical secrets, Mr Decker's surgical unit at J G Strijdom Hospital in Johannesburg, South Africa. Perhaps it was not such a secret, for a multitude of surgical trainees passed through his hands and are now in leadership positions worldwide, passing his teachings to the next generation, and serving patients in need. Outside medicine, he revelled in his family's happiness and success. He enjoyed home-cooked French cuisine and the comforts of home, but was not materialistic. He was a kind, caring and unselfish man, who did not feign attention or recognition. Family, friends and colleagues appreciated his dry sense of humour and hospitality. He died on 15 January 2013 in Johannesburg, aged 81. He was survived by his wife, Margaret, and their two children, Nicola, a general practitioner, and Anton, a gastroenterologist.