Alan Boyd Holmes was a giant of surgical practice in Tasmania and a pioneer of urology in the state. He died on 13 December 2013, at the age of 87. Three weeks earlier he was snorkelling with his family in Queensland. Alan grew up in Sydney, where he was dux of Artarmon opportunity school, and

Bruce Pearson was born in Cairns, Queensland, on 29 July 1926, the son of Dr Henry Roy Pearson, a general practitioner with a special interest in obstetrics, and Louisa Agnes Crum. He went to Armidale High School, Perth Modern School and Sydney University, where he represented his school and college