Emmanuel Archampong was a professor of surgery at the University of Ghana Medical School. He was born in Jamestown, Accra on 12 October 1933. His father was Emmanuel Quarmine Archampong, an accountant at the general post office; his mother was Mary Naryie Archampong née Abbey, a petty trader and the daughter of a cabinetmaker. He attended Bishop’s Boys’ School in Accra, then Accra Academy Secondary School. He also embarked on a correspondence course at Wolsley Hall, Oxford. He studied natural sciences at the University of the Gold Coast from 1952 to 1955, after which he won a scholarship to University College London (UCL), where he studied basic sciences with anatomy. In 1957 he won the Cluff Memorial prize for basic sciences and an anatomy exhibition and gained his BSc in 1958. He went to study medicine at University College Hospital Medical School, where he won the Suckling prize in obstetrics and gynaecology in 1960, and qualified in 1961 with distinctions in pathology, applied pharmacology and therapeutics. He was adjudged the best student in his graduating year, earning the unique privilege of working as a house physician in the medical unit at University College Hospital for Max Rosenheim, later president of the Royal College of Physicians. He was also a house surgeon on the surgical unit in 1962. He undertook a range of training positions across the United Kingdom, including a senior house officer post at Leicester General Hospital and Royal Infirmary. He returned to Ghana in 1967 and joined the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital and newly established University of Ghana Medical School (UGMS). His observation of the unduly high mortality from typhoid perforation in Ghanaians led him to investigate the phenomenon. In 1969, he wrote an article in the *British Medical Journal* on the topic, emphasising the importance of timing of surgery in these patients, which significantly impacted outcome (‘Operative treatment of typhoid perforation of the bowel’ *BMJ* 1969 3 273-6). He was awarded a Commonwealth Medical fellowship in 1971; he returned to UCL and undertook research on mucosal transport of the human colon and obtained the MS by thesis in 1974, the first Ghanaian to achieve this milestone. During this second visit to the UK, he lived in the newly built International Students Residence, and his flat was visited by the Queen Mother when she attended the official opening of the building. He returned to Ghana in 1972 and rose through the academic ranks to professor of surgery in 1976. He maintained treasured relationships with colleagues in the UK, including John Wyllie at UCL and Alan Johnson in Sheffield. These were among the many who frequently visited Emmanuel in Ghana as external examiners for undergraduate and postgraduate (FRCS primary and part one) examinations. Whilst in Ghana, he continued to play an active role at the Royal College of Surgeons of England, as an external examiner (from 1982 to 1989). He was also a senior fellow of the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland. He was editor in chief of the *Ghana Medical Journal* (from 1973 to 1980) and of the *West African Journal of Medicine* (from 1991 to 1996), served on the editorial board of the *British Journal of Surgery* (from 1984 to 1996) and was widely published nationally and internationally. His quest to invest in surgery in the West African region led him to collaborate with eminent surgeons Emmanuel Badoe and M O A Jaja to publish *Principles and practice of surgery including pathology in the tropics* (Ghana Publishing Corporation, 1986). This has become the ‘go-to’ textbook in Ghana and West Africa. He mooted the idea of a college of health sciences in Ghana, an idea he picked up from a senior medical fellowship to the UK (from 1992 to 1993). This led to the formation of the College of Health Sciences, implemented by his successors. The College’s library has been named in his honour. He was appointed emeritus professor of surgery on his retirement. Positions he held locally included dean of the University of Ghana Medical School (1984 to 1994), vice president of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences (1993 to 1994), vice president of the Ghana Surgical Research Society (1992 to 1994), among many. Regional and international positions included president of the West African College of Surgeons (1997 to 1999) and World Health Organization missions consultant in medical education and surgery in Guyana (1990 to 1991), Ethiopia (1992), Sierra Leone (1994 to 1999) and the Gambia (1996 and 2004). Emmanuel delivered several major scientific presentations, including the inaugural lecture and the J B Danquah memorial lecture at the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the 19th Sir Samuel Manuwa lecture, in Cameroon in 2016. He received many honours, including the Chevalier of the Republic of Senegal (in 1997) and the Companion of the Order of the Volta of the Republic of Ghana (in 2006). In 2015 he was the first Ghanaian honoured with the fellowship of the American College of Surgeons, for his contributions to specialist medical training and the delivery of surgical services in West Africa. In 1967 he married Catherine Awulata Konotey-Ahulu, and they had five children: Eliz, Ruth, David (a surgeon), Timothy (a physician) and Emmanuel. He was a family man, loved gardening, classical music and played the piano brilliantly. Emmanuel worked for 53 years as a consultant surgeon and trainer, lived a full and enjoyable life and above all was a devout Christian. He died on 11 November 2021 after a short illness. Survived by his wife and children, he was laid to rest after a state funeral in Accra in the presence of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, president of the Republic of Ghana, and Mahamudu Bawumia, vice president of the Republic of Ghana.