Witold Rudowski was an eminent Polish surgeon. He qualified in medicine in 1943, studying at a secret medical faculty that had been set up during Nazi occupation. He then worked in the Dzieciatka Jesus Hospital in Warsaw until 1947, where the neurosurgery department was run by Jerzego Chorobskiego. He then worked for a year in the neurosurgical clinic of the Przemienienia Panskiego Hospital, where conditions were harsh. Rudowski went on to become a Professor of Surgery. He was a member of the International Association of Endocrine Surgeons. He wrote many texts and edited *Disorders of hemostasis in surgery*, which was published in 1977 in the US by the University Press of New England. He died on 20 September 2001.