James Laurence Lewis was a consultant surgeon and urologist for the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust based at Royal Tunbridge Wells. He was born in Los Angeles, California. His parents, Arthur Lewis and Evelyn Lewis née Eisner, moved to London when he was 14 and he went to St Paul’s School. He excelled academically and won a foundation scholarship. A talented trombonist, he won the school’s brass and woodwind prize two years in succession and also played double bass in a jazz band. He co-authored with his younger brother revue sketches that were performed at the school. He had set his sights on a medical career at an early age and studied at Guy’s Hospital, gaining his MB BS in 1972, achieving honours in the surgical part of the examination. While studying at Guy’s, he found time to direct two plays. After qualifying, he held a number of posts as part of the Guy’s surgical training scheme. After passing the primary FRCS at his first attempt, he decided to tackle the MRCP examinations and passed those in 1974. Then he passed the second part of his FRCS in 1976. As part of his studies for a University of London MS degree, he spent a year as a research fellow at Harvard Medical School. His research topic was an assessment of thromboresistant materials by I 125-fibrinogen scanning of intravenous cannulae and he was awarded his degree in 1985. In 1987, he was appointed as a consultant general and urological surgeon at the Kent and Sussex Weald NHS Trust (from 2000, the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust). He quickly set about founding a proper department of urology. With a consultant colleague, Trevor Ford, his department of urology prospered. He was always a great innovator. He was the first surgeon in the trust to recognise that laparoscopic surgery was the way forward. He was the one who went and did the courses and then came back and taught the rest how to do it. He pioneered radical retropubic prostatectomy for carcinoma of the prostate, but also found time to become an advanced trauma life support (ATLS) instructor. He was the clinical lead for information technology. Jim was always looking ahead. He was one of the first people to set up a partnership for himself and his urological colleagues in private practice. In addition, he was medical director for the Kent and Sussex Weald NHS Trust between 1996 and 2000. Over the course of his career, he published 18 articles in various medical journals. He retired as a surgeon in 2006 and moved back to southern California. He came out of his retirement to become medical director of the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust between 2008 and 2010. Back in southern California, Jim continued to devote time to his lifelong interests in film, theatre, music and travel with his wife, Bev. On a visit to England in early 2019 for family celebrations, he had a dramatic deterioration in health with weight loss, malaise and epigastric discomfort. A CT scan showed advanced carcinoma of the pancreas with hepatic secondary deposits. He responded to urgent palliative chemotherapy. His condition improved enough for him to meet up with consultant colleagues for a traditional curry before he returned home to California. After a 12-month battle, which he faced with his usual forward thinking, positive attitude, he died on 2 February 2020. He was 70. Jim was married three times and had two daughters with his second wife.