Beverley John Abel (Bev) was born in Nottinghamshire in 1943. His parents, Albert and Winifred, ran a butcher’s shop and the family, which included Bev and his younger sister Wendy, lived above it. When he was two years old he suffered from rickets and had to wear leg splints for a time. From early years he showed keen academic ability and easily passed his 11+ examination. He was educated at Carlton-le-Willows grammar school and read medicine at Liverpool University. When asked at his university interview if he came from a medical family he apparently replied *My father is a butcher*. Remaining in the city for his training, he became a surgical research fellow at the Liverpool Regional Urology Centre and published papers on the treatment of kidney and bladder problems (notably relating to injuries of the spine) which were highly influential. He moved to Glasgow as a senior registrar at the Victoria Infirmary and was later appointed consultant urological surgeon. A pioneer of percutaneous lithotripsy, by this procedure he dramatically improved the lives of hundreds of patients suffering from kidney stones. With his colleague Archie Hutchinson he ran an innovative urology clinic which became a UK model for future practice. He was also appointed an honorary senior lecturer in urology at the University of Glasgow. Outside medicine he threw himself enthusiastically into many differing interests, from still life painting to fishing, house renovation, golf and game shooting. Salmon fishing was a particularly favourite activity, especially on the river Spey. He was always happy to joke about his humble origins, on one occasion for example when a fellow fisherman thought he had been described as a *neurologist* he corrected him *No, I’m a plumber, a urologist.....neurologists are the brainy guys*. In 1966 he married a Welsh senior nurse, Dwynwen Thomas (Wendy) and they had three children, Julia, Clare and Simon. Wendy died of cancer in 2007 aged 64 after 41 years of marriage. Some years later, in 2011, he married a nursing sister he had met at the Victoria Infirmary, Sandra McGeachie. He died from neuroendocrine carcinoma of the lung on 23 August 2018 and was survived by Sandra, his children and grandchildren: Zoe, Freya, Niamh, Archie, Lachan, Angus, Darroch and Lucy.