Brian Patrick Gardner was born in Fort Jameson, Zambia on 17 July 1948. He was the first son, and third child, of Trevelyn Codrington Gardner CBE and his wife Briege Therese née Feehan. His father was a distinguished Colonial administrator who went on to have a second career in university administration and eventually became treasurer of Cambridge University. Brian was initially educated at St George’s College in Salisbury, Rhodesia and then attended Beaumont College in Old Windsor, Berkshire. He read medicine at the Queen’s College, Oxford and trained at the London Hospital, graduating BM, BCh in 1973. After a year at the London, he spent another at Whipps Cross Hospital and then moved to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge in various house jobs from 1976 to 1979, with a period at Bedford District General from 1977 to 1978. After a spell at Stoke Mandeville and at the Royal Victoria in Belfast, where, at both hospitals, he worked on spinal injuries, he spent four years at Merseyside Regional Centre, Southport during which time he undertook a travelling fellowship to the USA for nine months and continued his research. During his training he acknowledged the influence of John Hadfield, and, at Addenbrookes, William Smellie, Sir Roy Calne and the neurosurgeon Walpole Lewin. Appointed a consultant in spinal injuries at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in 1985, he spent 30 years working as a consultant including five as a clinical lead. An advocate of the holistic approach to the treatment of spinal injuries, he initiated many research projects in fields as varied as artificial ventilation, sexual dysfunction and life expectancy. He taught, lectured and travelled widely and was an advisor to many influential bodies in the field. Among numerous professional organisations, he was a member of the BMA and treasurer and member of the executive council of the International Medical Society of Paraplegia (founded 1961), which is now known as the International Spinal Cord Society. He was known for having a great deal of empathy for his patients and their problems. Only too well aware of the shattering effect a spinal cord injury could have on a person’s life, he worked hard to ensure that his patients got all the support they needed after their time in hospital. He also became famous as an expert witness in cases of damage to the spine and continued this work throughout his life. During the Iran/Iraq war, two years after his appointment at Stoke Mandeville, he visited Baghdad to offer his help and share expertise in the spinal unit there. He enjoyed playing tennis and listening to music. A family man, his religion was important to him and he was prominent in church activities. On 18 October 1980 he married Stephanie Catherine née Fuller and they had nine children, some of whom followed him into the medical profession. After a strong fight against it, he died of cancer on 15 November 2019 aged 71, survived by his wife and children, Catherine, Paul, Laura, Martin, Annabelle, Edel, Benedict and Liam.