Stanley Arthur Russell (‘Stan’) Cooke was a consultant general surgeon in Johannesburg, South Africa. He was born on 18 March 1932, the son of Richard Stanley Cooke and Isobel Faulds Cooke née Russell. He was educated at St John’s College, Johannesburg, and then went to the UK to attend medical school at Guy’s Hospital, London, qualifying in 1957. He held pre-registration posts at Guy’s and was then a senior house officer in the casualty department at Lewisham Hospital, London. From 1960 to 1961 he was a junior lecturer in the anatomy department at Guy’s. From 1962 to 1965 he was a registrar at the London Hospital, St Andrew’s Hospital and Guy’s, and an honorary clinical assistant at St Mark’s Hospital and at St Peter’s Hospital. From 1965 to 1970 he was a senior registrar at Guy’s and a lecturer (in 1968). In 1969 he went to the US, as a research fellow at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore. He gained his fellowships of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons of England and of Edinburgh in 1962 and a masters degree in surgery in 1970. In 1971 he was appointed as a consultant surgeon to the South Eastern Metropolitan area in London. He was also an honorary lecturer in the surgery department at Guy’s. In the mid-1970s, he returned to South Africa. He was a consultant and senior lecturer in the department of surgery at the University of the Witwatersrand, initially under Daniel Jacob (Sonny) Du Plessis and later Johannes Albertus (Bert) Myburgh. Here he was able to develop his academic interest in colorectal disease. In 1979 he became a surgeon in private practice at Kenridge Hospital in partnership with John Tinker. He introduced a number of innovations to Johannesburg, including the ileo-anal pouch after proctocolectomy, post anal repair for idiopathic incontinence, colo-anal anastomoses after excision for cancer and colonic pull-through for radiation-induced recto-vaginal fistulae. He also continued teaching part time at the University of the Witwatersrand. He retired in 2006. In 2011 the Association of Surgeons of South Africa honoured him with its distinguished service award. His outside interests included sport, as a spectator and a player, nature and wildlife (he had visited most game reserves in southern Africa). Cooke died on 27 January 2021 in Johannesburg. He was 88. He was survived by his widow Judy (née Scott), whom he had met at Guy’s, their three sons, Richard, Ian and David, and seven grandchildren.