Geoffrey (Geoff) Louis Allen was born on 11 April 1927 in Peshawar, Pakistan which, at that time was part of British India. He was the oldest child of Alexander James Grant Allen, a doctor, and his wife Eileen Trixie née Fitzgerald. He attended Lamartiniere School in Lucknow, India where he was in their auxiliary force during the last two years of the second world war and underwent training to resist the Japanese who were occupying Burma. Later he commented that the school had a history of *battle honours* and that a contingent of their pupils defended the Residency during the Indian Mutiny in 1857. He studied medicine at the Christian Medical College Hospital in Vellore, South India as one of the first batch of male students and later continued to attend alumni reunions for many years. On graduating MB, BS from the University of Madras in 1952, he did house jobs in the Vellore Hospital before travelling to the UK. After working as a registrar at the Sheffield Royal Infirmary, he became a senior registrar at the Harefield Hospital in London. While in England he was influenced by the work of Sir Thomas Holmes Sellors. He passed the fellowship of the college in 1964. Travelling to New Zealand he worked as a cardiothoracic surgeon at the Green Lane Hospital in Auckland where he was influenced by the work of the New Zealand cardiothoracic surgeons, Sir Brian Barratt-Boyes and David Cole. He also practiced as a thoracic and vascular surgeon at the Waikato Hospital in Hamilton. Outside medicine he enjoyed skiing and playing golf and tennis. An interest in military history led him to make a study of the decisive battles of the world. Colleagues remembered a convivial and entertaining man who prided himself on perfecting the New Zealand war cry complete with dance. He married Shirley Connors in 1968 and they had two sons and a daughter. He died at home on 14 October 2019. Shirley predeceased him and he was survived by their children David, Janet and Chris, and grandchildren, Kate, Nicole, Logan, Daniel and Charlotte.