Magdi Obeid was a consultant general and vascular surgeon in Birmingham. He was born on 5 January 1943 to his Egyptian parents in Khartoum, Sudan, where his father was working at the time. He was educated in Sudan and Egypt, and studied medicine at Ain Shams University, Cairo. He excelled in all his examinations and graduated in 1965. He worked as a house officer in Khartoum from 1966 to 1967, after which he decided to train in general surgery in England. He faced some initial discrimination. His first posts were locum appointments in London, however, once in employment, his excellent work, dedication and character ensured progress to substantive appointments, starting at Sheffield Children’s Hospital in 1968, followed by a post in general surgery in Dewsbury in 1969. Having passed the fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 1969, he was appointed as a registrar at Birmingham Children’s Hospital, where he worked for Sean Corkery, who had been his senior registrar in Sheffield. Magdi was then appointed as a registrar on the renal transplant unit at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, working for Tony Barnes. The workload was onerous, Barnes being the only consultant and Magdi the only registrar. Urgent work could present at any time and involve Magdi driving long distances to retrieve donor kidneys prior to assisting (or later performing) the implantation of the kidneys. Magdi’s performance in the very demanding job on the renal unit impressed many of his colleagues, as did his strength of character and he was subsequently appointed as a senior registrar on the west Midlands rotation. In 1977, Magdi was appointed as a consultant in general surgery at St Chad’s Hospital, Birmingham with sessions at Dudley Road Hospital, later transferring all sessions to Dudley Road. His major sub-specialty was vascular surgery and for many years he dealt with the majority of vascular emergencies, when on call for general surgery or when not officially on call. Apart from vascular surgery, Magdi provided a service in parathyroid and adrenal surgery, in addition to the usual gamut of general surgery. In addition to this clinical workload and despite the onset of insulin dependent diabetes in the 1980s, Magdi was elected to the Court of Examiners of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, and was later appointed to the Intercollegiate Board of Examiners in General Surgery. He was also elected by his colleagues in the west Midlands to be their representative on the council of the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. He was chairman of the division of surgery in West Birmingham from 1985 to 1988 and a member of the board of the West Birmingham Health Authority before the organisation became a trust. As chairman of the division, he exerted invaluable influence in supporting general surgery at the hospital when it was threatened with losing one of its six consultant posts for budgetary reasons. Magdi Obeid was elected president of the West Midlands Surgical Society in 2003. He retired in November 2004. His interests were his family, garden and fine art. He had a love of British painting of the 19th and early 20th centuries. He was a true connoisseur, with an extensive knowledge of the art and artists of the period. He had an extraordinary visual memory for works of art, including where and when he had seen them. He was a contributor to exhibitions at the Barber Institute of Fine Arts and to the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. Magdi and his wife were also patrons of the Symphony Hall in Birmingham. He was born into the Coptic Church and was a practising Christian. Magdi’s health had been deteriorating for many years as a result of complications of diabetes. In January 2021 he contracted covid while in hospital being treated for covid vaccination complications. He fought this with great courage and, despite being told that he had no chance of survival and would not be given care on the intensive care unit, he did survive after a long struggle and returned home. However, after this time in hospital, he was diagnosed with an aggressive B-cell lymphoma. He spent some time at home and then in St Mary’s Hospice, Birmingham, where he died on 4 September 2021 with his family around him. He was 78. Magdi loved his family above all else. He met future wife, Daisy, on their first day at medical school. They married in 1966 and were together for the rest of his life. She became a consultant clinical haematologist. They had two daughters, Amira and Amani, and five grandchildren.