Mike Morgan was a consultant surgeon in Essex. He was born in Swansea on 15 March 1940, the son of William Walter Herbert Morgan and Marie McGruther Morgan née Bragg, and remained a proud Welshman throughout his life. As a young boy he became critically ill with meningitis; penicillin had just become more widely available, but was then administered intrathecally, requiring twice daily lumbar punctures. It almost certainly saved his life, but he always winced at having to perform this procedure on patients. As a student, he played rugby and tennis to a high standard. An early fascination with anatomy and pathology led him to a career in surgery. After house jobs in Wales, he trained at St Bartholomew’s and the Royal Marsden hospitals, London. He then spent a year gaining further training and experience at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. On his appointment to West Essex in 1980, he quickly established the Epping breast unit at St Margaret’s Hospital, and, following the Forrest report in 1986, one of the first breast screening units in the UK. He was a pioneer of less invasive surgery for breast cancer, and the use of tamoxifen and neoadjuvant chemotherapy. He introduced breast nurse counsellors to the team and set up a fund to support patients and help fund research nurses so that the unit could participate in clinical trials. The fund subsequently helped set up a molecular laboratory within the pathology department at Harlow Hospital Trust, where ground-breaking molecular research led to a rapid assay to detect metastatic breast cancer in sentinel nodes as well as funding many MSc projects for pathology scientists at the trust. Widely respected as an energetic, prodigiously hard-working, forward-thinking, highly skilled and compassionate surgeon, Mike became something of a local legend. His patients always came first, but he also took the training of his junior staff seriously, was mentor to numerous future surgeons, and encouraged all members of the team in furthering their careers. Outside West Essex, Mike was an active member of the British Association of Surgical Oncology and represented the UK on the tumour grading committee of the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC). On retirement he was given a UICC lifetime achievement award for this work and put on the UICC roll of honour. Mike was a much loved, larger than life character who enjoyed watching Welsh rugby, fishing, gardening, beekeeping, fine wines and good company, not to mention pub banter, Welsh singing, large choral works and Queen. In retirement, he lovingly restored a classic Bentley car in which he and Jane toured Australia, New Zealand, British Columbia and Alaska. However, when asked what the best part of retirement was, he replied ‘getting to know your family again’. He was married first to fellow student, Gwen (née Evans), with whom he had three daughters. After their divorce he met his second wife Jane Leese, an infectious disease physician, with whom he had one daughter. He died from covid in Princess Alexandra Hospital, Harlow, on 7 October 2021 at the age of 81 and was survived by Gwen, Jane, all four daughters and seven grandsons, one of whom is a junior doctor.