Alec Benjamin was a consultant orthopaedic and trauma surgeon at west Hertfordshire from 1961 until 1984. Initially, he was on the staff of Watford General and Hemel Hempstead hospitals, but in the early eighties he moved his sessions from Watford to St Albans. He was born at home in Stoke Newington, London to Joseph Benjamin and Rachel Benjamin née Davids and soon moved to South Morden. His father was a rabbi and his mother ran the home. Alec wanted to become a doctor, but his headmaster tried to discourage him as during the war they had no physics master. Alec studied for his school certificate on his own and was admitted to the London Hospital Medical School, where he trained from 1942 to 1946. He was awarded the Charrington prize in practical anatomy and the Sir Frederick Treves prize in clinical surgery. Student life was split between London and being evacuated to Cambridge. He served in the Home Guard during the Blitz. On qualifying, he worked as a house physician and surgeon in paediatrics and orthopaedics, and then as a senior house officer in the orthopaedic department at the London Hospital. From 1947, he carried out his National Service in the RAF orthopaedic service. On leaving the RAF in 1949, he alternated between posts in orthopaedics and psychiatry at house officer and registrar level. Having obtained FRCS in 1953, from a psychiatric registrar post, he then embarked on a career in orthopaedics. He trained at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital and St Mary’s, and was a senior registrar at Charing Cross. In training, he worked for some orthopaedic legends – Sir Reginald Watson-Jones, Norman Capener and Karl Nissen. He published on traumatic arterial spasm and Volkmann’s ischaemic contracture. He was greatly interested in rheumatoid arthritis, publishing widely and contributing to textbooks. He was a founder member of the Rheumatoid Arthritis Surgical Society, serving as secretary. He was interested in corrective double osteotomies in rheumatoid arthritis, in the fingers, shoulder and knees. The double osteotomy around the knee bears his eponymous name. Before modern joint replacement surgery, this allowed pain relief and mobility for these disabled patients. He was a founder member of the Cerebral Palsy Surgical Society and an early member of the British Orthopaedic Study Group. Alec held many administrative posts on hospital boards, the health authority and editorial boards. Alec was always keen to examine new ideas and new techniques, which he did critically. If a new technique passed his scrutiny, he would adopt it. He took on a different surgical approach to hip replacement six months before he retired. He was insistent on retiring from clinical practice on his 60th birthday. He said: ‘I want to stop operating before someone has to tell me I should stop.’ The administration obviously did not believe him. Despite giving six months’ notice, no arrangements had been made for Alec’s replacement. Arthur Rushforth, whose sessions he had taken over at St Alban’s, supported by Denys Wainwright, stood in as locum until Jonathan Beacon was appointed as his successor. Alec was a keen educator and a stickler for detail and quality. He was insistent on integrity, confidentiality and treating all equally. If as a trainee you measured up to his exacting standards, he would support your career vigorously. Both myself and a colleague who delivered a eulogy at his funeral have Alec to thank for our progress through difficult periods in our career paths. Alec was a family man. He met his wife Bobbie (Barbara Mary née Yates) while she was a psychiatric social worker. They went everywhere together and he was devoted to her. Bobbie sadly died in 2015. He had a great sense of humour; a patient once asked him how many children he had. He replied, ‘I have four children,’ to which the patient asked, ‘Are you Catholic?’ Alec’s response was, ‘No, just a careless Jew!’ Predeceased by his son David Harold, Alec died on 16 December 2018 at the age of 94 and was survived by three children (Ian Joseph, Rachel Anne and Elizabeth), seven grandchildren and one great grandchild. Alec had so many interests outside medicine, and wanted to be involved in everything. He definitely suffered from what his grandchildren called ‘FOMO’ – ‘fear of missing out’. He liked skiing. He loved music, especially opera, poetry, murder mystery programmes and chocolate. He took tens of thousands of photographs, and produced amazing slide show presentations of trips abroad. He and Bobbie travelled a lot, and they particularly enjoyed spending time in New York, Los Angeles, Sydney, Africa and Hong Kong, visiting children and grandchildren. He was a member of Ashridge Golf Club from 1962 and, after he retired, he enjoyed playing regularly. His children remember being sent out to pick elderberries to make wine and, in later years, he added sloe whisky to his repertoire. His culinary skills were legend – well, he enjoyed a good barbeque and his pièce de résistance was a combination of his cooking and surgical skills (a turducken, a chicken inside a duck inside a turkey). His grandchildren will forever remember his waffles! Alec was a kind man, with a fine sense of humour, a rounded individual, a very professional clinician and surgeon. He used to say: ‘I cannot repay those who have helped me in my career, but I can help those who come after me.’