As a surgeon – from his birth in New Delhi, India, his training in England to a career in New Zealand – Roy Chowdhury occupied the world of medicine more than most. Salil Roy Chowdhury (widely known as Roy) was born in 1928, the sixth child of Abala Bondhu Roy Chowdhury, a manager of a colliery in Dhanbad, and Chapala Sundari Sarkar. With the death of his father prior to his birth, Roy and the family moved to the ancestral family home in Ulpur, in East Bengal, (now Bangladesh) on the banks of the Padma River, a Ganges tributary, where the family owned large areas of land and buildings. In 1936 the family returned to New Delhi where Roy excelled at school. Roy completed a BSc (Hons) at Delhi University in 1948 and gained entry to the RG Kar Medical College in Calcutta. Completing his MB ChB in 1953 Roy travelled to the UK to begin post-graduate training in surgery, working in Middlesborough General Hospital (Yorkshire), Brook General Hospital (London), Weston Super Mare General Hospital (Somerset) and Musgrove Park Hospital (Taunton, Somerset) becoming FRCS in 1961. While working at Brook General Hospital Roy met Eileen Johnson, a nurse, and they married in 1958. Post fellowship experience in general and thoracic surgery was obtained as a surgical registrar at Weston Super Mare, Brook General Hospital and Clare Hall Hospital (Middlesex). In 1962 Roy returned to India with Eileen and two children, David and Joya, initially to a position as Supernumery Surgeon at Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi. His next position reflected the serious inequalities of that period as Roy described – “From there I got an appointment as surgeon superintendent with an English owned company in their Tea Gardens, Colliery and Timber Mill in Margarita, near Digboy, an oil town, in Assam (close to the Chinese and Burmese borders). I was the first Indian surgeon and on a much lower salary than my less qualified Scottish predecessor, with the excuse that I was Indian. I needed to spend much for my housekeeping. Still I had to maintain my status. We were provided with a big bungalow with nine servants to look after four of us. They used to live in little hutments outside our compound.” Roy made weekly visits to six tea garden hospitals and one colliery hospital, each accommodating 60-100 patients. The facilities were less than ideal and Roy described the completion of a partial thyroidectomy using torchlight because the overhead light had been sold. Life in India proved a very trying time for the family and they returned to England in 1964, Roy securing positions at Weston Super Mare and Taunton Hospital. Their third child Melinda was born the following year. Roy was appointed to the position of full time surgeon at Hawera Hospital (Taranaki) and the family moved to New Zealand in 1966. He subsequently became Surgeon Superintendent, a position involving surgery and hospital administration. He championed the cause of providing hospital services locally and oversaw the development of an intensive care unit. While the hospital community was the centre of his life and source of many friendships, Roy became very involved in the work of health NGOs such as the Crippled Children Society and the Cancer Society. In 1969 Roy gained his FRACS. With the progressive withdrawal of surgical services from the smaller provincial hospitals and increasing administrative demands, in 1981 Roy accepted a position as full-time surgeon at Wairau Hospital (Blenheim) remaining in that role until his retirement in 1995. Colleagues describe Roy as a careful operator, aware of his limitations and ready to seek advice or help. Having a humble personality and a keen sense of humour, Roy was greatly loved by those who worked with him. He was always considerate and thoughtful in his interaction with colleagues. Although a general surgeon by training, Roy had acquired an extended range of skills and at Wairau was able to assist in the provision of the care of acute orthopaedic patients. Roy was a member of the Marlborough branch of the Cancer Society becoming President 1986-88. Aware of the high rate of skin cancer in the region he organized the first free skin cancer clinic in New Zealand in Blenheim in 1988 with Gary Duncan, plastic surgeon from Wellington, and Peter Sears, a dermatologist, assisting. Living in Hawera Roy became a member of Rotary, which was the source of many enduring friendships. This continued in Blenheim where he was awarded a Paul Harris Fellowship in 1993 and served as Rotary District Governor in 1994-95. Roy became a keen gardener acquiring expertise in the art of growing roses and maintaining a prodigious and productive vegetable garden. While woodworking and trout fishing were additional sources of pleasure, cricket was a passion and resulted in numerous pilgrimages from Hawera to Auckland or Wellington to follow test matches. In retirement he maintained his connection with India making a number of trips back to his homeland. Roy died at Redwood Lifestyle Care and Village in Blenheim after a long illness. He is survived by his wife Eileen, children David (Wellington), Joya (Nelson) and Melinda (Marlborough) and five grandchildren.