Glenn Neil-Dwyer was a consultant neurosurgeon at the Wessex Neurological Centre, Southampton. He was born in Kingston, Jamaica, where his mother, Violet Agatha Neil-Dwyer née Hussey, was a teacher in the local school. His father, Glen Shamrock Neil-Dwyer, was of the generation who left Jamaica to support the war effort. From May 1947, Glenn attended Kingsmead Preparatory School, Hoylake, Wirral, whilst his father completed his commission in the RAF in Liverpool and flew Mosquito planes whilst attached to RAF Detling, Kent. In 1951, whilst his parents were in Nigeria and Niger doing missionary work, Glenn moved to Ruthin School, North Wales. He became head boy in 1955 and captain of both rugby and cricket first teams. He qualified MB BS in 1963 from St Mary’s Medical School in London. He remains the only person to captain St Mary’s Medical School rugby first team in consecutive years (1961 to 1963), winning the United Hospitals Cup in 1963. He went on to play for London Welsh. The press tipped him to play for England, but he never did. General surgery training followed: he gained his fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 1967 and of England a year later. He completed his MS thesis in 1974 on ‘The metabolic effects of subarachnoid haemorrhage’ while undergoing neurosurgical training in Cambridge and Southampton, a lifelong interest that led to many scientific papers and presentations at international meetings. He was appointed as an Arris and Gale lecturer to the Royal College of Surgeons in 1983. He returned to Jamaica in 1974 for his first consultant post at the Cornwall Regional and University College hospitals. However, his neurosurgical ambitions for Jamaica were frustrated, at a very difficult time politically and socially, by the lack of resources and infrastructure. He moved back to the UK to begin practice at the Brook Neurosurgical Unit in London (1975 to 1987). In 1987, he returned to the Wessex Neurological Centre in Southampton to join the existing three-man team that served the growing population of Wessex. He combined a busy clinical practice with an active academic career and an ever-expanding list of national and international administrative roles. Neurosurgery had been established in Southampton in 1967. The unit excelled at training future neurosurgeons and a strong academic unit was being developed. However, its physical infrastructure needed redevelopment and expansion. Glenn was the bridge with the administration that facilitated the restructuring. He established many productive collaborations, both academic and clinical. He introduced complex and demanding surgical approaches to the skull base that required team working with ENT, plastic and maxillofacial surgery. Dedication to a busy clinical practice was complimented by an active research career that embraced meticulous audit and clinical trials. He published more than 100 papers broadly focusing on neurosurgical techniques, outcome and quality of life after neurosurgical intervention. He was at the forefront of the movement that recognised the impact of overly ambitious skull base surgery, not only on the patient but also on the family and carers. He continued to contribute papers, book chapters and read papers at academic meetings up until retirement. Glenn was held in the highest regard by his trainees. His philosophy was that trainees had to be responsible for their own training – he rarely dictated solutions to their problems. Wise, patient and focused discussion usually allowed the trainee to find an answer. He emphasised how important it was to become your own man or woman and to be the best you could possibly be. In every aspect of his life, Glenn served as a role model for those aspiring to a career in neurosurgery. He led by example – a successful career would require fairness and honesty, service and sacrifice, effort and diligence, decency and respect – values he manifested in abundance. In sport and in medicine he was able to strike a balance between competition and community, exemplified by his commitment to building organisations that would work with and for others for common benefit and the sheer pleasure that ensued, knowing that service is its own reward. In the operating theatre, always a difficult arena in which to train, he was supportive and intuitive. His dedication to teaching, training, the intercollegiate examination and the UK-wide development of safe neurosurgical services led to productive service for many years on the councils and committees of the Society of British Neurological Surgeons (SBNS) and the European Association of Neurosurgical Societies (EANS). Glenn’s dispassionate, evidence-based analysis was invaluable in the movement to develop and rationalise neurosurgical services nationwide through Safe neurosurgery 2000 and Safe neurosurgery 2002, and the Neurosurgical workforce plan. He appreciated the need for early engagement with politicians and planners, and learned their language. He was president of the SBNS from 1998 to 2000, a consultant adviser in neurosurgery to the Army (from 1992 to 2006) and a member of the council and cases committee of the Medical Defence Union (1998-2008). He was subsequently awarded the EANS medal of honour and the SBNS medal in recognition of his outstanding contribution to neurosurgery. Glenn married Sue, an ophthalmologist and his beloved wife of over 50 years, in 1966. Three sons were to follow – Jason, Dominic and Leo. Glenn was a proud and loving father. His love and commitment to medicine did not distract him from taking part and encouraging his sons in his favourite sports – principally rugby, squash and cricket. In addition to rugby, he played cricket at county level and was particularly proud to be an MCC member and wear the unmistakable tie. Retirement in 2002 allowed Glenn to spend more time with family and friends. He loved his frequent long walks in the New Forest, golf at Brockenhurst Manor Golf Club and frequent visits to the theatre and cinema. Perhaps his greatest passion was opera. He rarely missed a production at Covent Garden, unless Wagner was playing. It is something of a surprise that he didn’t persist with Wagner. They shared a somewhat similar philosophy – that of careful synthesis of component parts to produce, in the composer’s case, a total work of art and, in Glenn’s, a comprehensive approach to the design, delivery and organisation of neurosurgical services in the UK. The house in Bank near Lyndhurst was a beautiful, welcoming family home frequently visited by family and friends. Glenn sadly lost Sue in March 2020 after a long struggle with Parkinson’s disease. Glenn’s terminal illness was relatively brief. He died peacefully at home on 30 November 2020 with his three sons at his bedside. He was 82.