Malcolm Kelly was a consultant general surgeon to the Queen Alexandra Hospital, Cosham, Portsmouth. A Manxman to the core, he was born in Peel on the Isle of Man on 9 February 1936, the son of Eric and Eileen Kelly, and attended King William’s College on the island. He was wedded to the sea, often cod fishing in a rowing boat for local businesses. He left school early and, while serving in the RAF as a National Service man, underwent a ‘road to Damascus’ moment. Riding in an RAF vehicle, a fireball ahead brought them to a halt and, while others ran to the fire, Malcolm ran backwards to help a burning victim who had been thrown out of a vehicle. He felt he should have known more about how he could have helped the casualty and so decided to study medicine. He passed his A levels and then went to St Mary’s Medical School in 1956. At St Mary’s, he proved an adept rower, helping the hospital’s eight reach semi-finals at Henley. After qualifying, he had the notable achievement of being the last house surgeon to Arthur Dickson Wright, a First World War pilot and ex-chair of surgery in Singapore, who was well-known for his wit and repartee and had a tireless work ethic. Here Malcolm would have witnessed the labours of a true generalist. Not infrequently (along with many others at this time) he was left to perform procedures for which he had little or no instruction. He did manage to keep his demanding and charismatic chief happy. In 1963, in true Manx tradition, continuing his love of the sea, Malcolm was posted as ship’s surgeon to the Royal Research Ship Discovery during an International Indian Ocean Expedition. He was provided with a fine case of surgical instruments used on Robert Falcon Scott’s first expedition! He took up senior house officer posts in Exeter, St Mary’s and Plymouth, and then worked as a registrar in Chichester for Roger Miles from the mid-1960s. He decided to apply for a senior registrar post with Harold Rogers and Terence Kennedy, a vigorous surgeon who became a close family friend. These surgeons worked at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast and, from 1969 to 1975, Malcolm was exposed to the sequelae of armed conflict rife in the city and its surrounds. Whilst in Belfast, he frequently worked alongside other surgical disciplines. This led to several articles and presentations to learned societies. Not only was he placed on a surgical war footing, but he also tackled a period of academic research, which was to help launch his later career as a specialist upper gastro-intestinal surgeon. His research pivoted around surgery for duodenal ulcer and gastric function, the latter focusing on measurements of antral function and the effects of drugs and surgery on its motility. These works resulted in 15 publications and the award of a masters degree in surgery in 1973. The title of his thesis was ‘The function of the pyloric antrum, before and after the operations of truncal, selective and highly selective vagotomy’. This was a pertinent area of research given the frequent incidence of peptic ulcer during these times. The year of 1973 proved a busy one, since he was awarded the Calvert medal and then the Lady Dixon travelling fellowship to visit the USA, including time at the Mayo Clinic, where he studied and gave papers. The period of training in Belfast, where he was bringing up a young family, must have been rather challenging, since being a Protestant named Kelly, he considered that he might have been a target by both rival factions in the city. His wife Rose, an ophthalmic specialist, worked at the Royal Victoria Eye Hospital, provocatively but unintentionally driving an orange-coloured Mini, which was often found parked in the Catholic Falls Road! Following six years of valuable surgical experience, Malcolm was appointed as a consultant general surgeon, with a particular interest in upper gastrointestinal surgery, to the Queen Alexandra Hospital, in Cosham near Portsmouth. Here he established a fine reputation as an outstanding surgeon, beloved of his trainees and patients. He was to work there for 24 years and published papers on the treatment of oesophageal varices and surgery for anterior resection. The skills learned in Belfast profited Malcolm. One registrar recalled him operating on a patient who had been shot through both kidneys. Having performed one nephrectomy, he then repaired the other, using portions of rectus sheath. He was a quiet calm and very focused surgeon. His theatre team and his juniors welded very effectively around him. Malcom served as the surgical tutor for Queen Alexandra’s Hospital and also for St Mary’s Hospital. He was chairman of the surgical division and a member of the regional medical advisory committee. With such a wide experience in general, upper gastrointestinal and trauma surgery, Malcolm was a welcome addition to the Court of Examiners of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. He kept well up to date with evolving technology, trialling the Angelchik prosthesis for managing gastro-oesophageal reflux and later he performed one of the first laparoscopic oesophagectomies for carcinoma in the UK. No account of Malcolm Kelly’s life would be complete without two important features: the dedicated support his wife gave him in his career and his love of sailing. As well as giving him her support, Rose managed to continue her career, working in Southampton as an ophthalmic neurophysiologist, and lavished care on their two sons, Jamie, now a consultant upper GI surgeon, and Max, a senior business man working with international technical start-ups. There are also two grandchildren. The second important feature was that of Malcolm’s love of sailing. Ideally placed in Portsmouth, the couple kept a yacht (Starwalker) and sailed all around Europe and the Mediterranean, latterly, for many years, berthing the vessel in Croatia. On one occasion, shortly after Malcolm had himself had a gastric polyp removed endoscopically, there occurred a limited perforation of his stomach, managed conservatively. Shortly after this, he resolved to sail in a previously planned transatlantic race, then cruise the Caribbean. This he did, with his son and two others, without mishap. After this crossing Malcolm won the prize for the winning skipper over 60! Malcolm died on 14 May 2021 at the age of 85. He was a robust, kind and very capable master surgeon who had an infectious sense of fun and humour. He had given so much to his patients and junior staff during his eventful career.