John McGregor was a consultant plastic surgeon in Edinburgh and the Lothians. He was born on 21 April 1944 in Paisley, Renfrewshire, the only child of John Alexander McGregor, a chartered civil engineer, and Isabel Millar McGregor née Cummack, the daughter of a farmer. He was educated at Paisley Grammar School and the University of Glasgow. He graduated in medicine after completing an intercalated BSc in physiology. After preregistration house jobs and the prestigious Hall fellowship within the regius department of surgery, he proceeded on a surgical path, joining the west of Scotland training rotation, before embarking on plastic surgical training. He was a registrar in Nottingham before returning to Canniesburn (where he had been on the surgical rotation) as a registrar and then senior registrar at Bangour General Hospital (the former site of the Edinburgh and Lothian plastic surgery unit). He spent time with Edgar Biemer in Munich studying microsurgical techniques and performed the first free flaps at Bangour. Once Campbell Buchan retired from the unit, John was appointed as his successor. He was an examiner for the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, examining for many years for the fellowship examinations, then for the Intercollegiate Specialty Board in Plastic Surgery. He ultimately acted as assessor of examiners. He served on the council of the British Association of Plastic Surgeons from 2004 to 2006. He retired from the National Health Service in 2007, intending to continue with his private practice but very soon thereafter suffered a very severe stroke which left him considerably disabled. This prevented him taking part in his much-loved sports of tennis and golf. He was a member of the Royal Burgess and Bruntsfield Links golfing societies – the oldest and fourth oldest golf clubs in the world. He remained to the end an avid watcher of sport. He was diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer and was treated at home. He died on 20 July 2018 at the age of 74. He was survived by his widow Moria, whom he married in 1972, his children Trudy and Alan and grandchildren Callum, Holly, Joshua, Lucy and Liam.