Ian Rothwell was a consultant clinical oncologist at Cookridge Hospital, Leeds. He was born on 25 July 1942 in Buckingham to Mary Anne and Edward Richard Rothwell. A keen Scout, he enjoyed leading mountaineering expeditions. He studied medicine at the Middlesex Hospital Medical School, during which time carried out an elective with the Red Cross in Yemen. After qualifying in 1966, Ian trained in surgery and, after obtaining his FRCS, went to work in Sabah, East Borneo, where he met his future wife, Mary. From 1968 to 1971 he was posted to Sandakan, Semporna and Keningau, after which he returned to the UK to undergo surgical training. He returned to Malaysia, and in 1974 was appointed as a surgeon at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. In 1976 he played a key role in helping the survivors of the ‘Double Six Tragedy’, an aeroplane crash which claimed the lives of 11 people, including the then chief minister Tun Fuad Stephens. Ian returned to UK in 1978 and decided to retrain as a clinical oncologist, which he did at Cookridge Hospital in Leeds. Soon after completing his training he was appointed as a consultant with a special interest in gynaecological cancer. He also took on the care of cancer patients in Pontefract, where he became a valued and respected colleague for 35 years. Ian suffered from three separate cancers during his life and overcame them all with quiet courage. This gave him considerable empathy, which was a great help to his patients as well as the local and national cancer self-help groups to which he gave unstinting support. In retirement he developed an interest in medical history and was a popular lecturer at the Thackray Museum of Medicine in Leeds and in a variety of other venues around Yorkshire. In his last few years Ian was sustained by his wife and close family, who were by his side when he died from cerebrovascular disease on 1 August 2021. He was 79. He was survived by Mary, his wife of 51 years, their three children Robert, Martin and Tracy, and five grandchildren.