John A Mannick was chief of surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston and Moseley professor of surgery at Harvard University. He was born in Deadwood, South Dakota, the son of Alfred Mannick, an engineer, and Catherine Mannick née Schuster, an English teacher. As a youngster, his family moved to Yakima, Washington, where he graduated from high school. He then enrolled at Harvard. At Harvard, he majored in history and literature. Besides a robust liberal arts education, he took the required pre-medical science courses. He matriculated to Harvard Medical School, gaining his MD degree in 1953. Upon graduation, Mannick joined the US Air Force and served in Sacramento and San Antonio. Upon completion of his Air Force obligation, where he rose to the rank of captain, he carried out a surgical residency at Massachusetts General Hospital. Although he was counselled by his mentors to take a fellowship at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), he chose a fellowship in the laboratory of E Donnall Thomas (a future Nobel laureate), studying transplantation biology at the Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital in Cooperstown, New York. He became a pioneer in the new field of transplantation, focusing on lymphocyte biology. Mannick’s first faculty position was working with another transplantation pioneer, David Hume, at the Medical College of Virginia. He became a fast friend of Richard Egdahl (another junior faculty member), both practising general surgery. As the story goes, Hume summoned Mannick and Egdahl to his office, advising them that they should subspecialise. Both vigorously protested, so Hume flipped a coin, assigning Mannick to vascular surgery and Egdahl to endocrine surgery. Shortly thereafter, Egdahl left Virginia to become the chair of surgery at Boston University. Egdahl recruited Mannick back to Boston to become the residency programme director at Boston University, where he eventually succeeded Egdahl as chair of surgery. Mannick was then recruited to succeed Francis Moore as the chief of surgery and Moseley professor of surgery at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in 1976. This was a time of transition at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital as it merged with the Robert Breck Brigham Hospital (orthopaedics) and the Boston Hospital for Women (gynaecology). This merger resulted in Affiliated Hospitals Center, which subsequently became Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH). Mannick presided over unprecedented growth of surgical services at BWH. He facilitated the integration of Harvard Community Health Plan surgeons into the staff at BWH. Several of these surgeons became outstanding teachers for the BWH surgical residents. All the while, the academic faculty continued to build strong programmes in cancer, cardiac, thoracic and vascular surgery, especially. He served as surgeon-in-chief at the Brigham and Moseley professor of surgery at Harvard until 1994. In the subsequent decades he remained actively involved in education and research efforts at both institutions. Mannick built exceptional research programmes led by surgeons. These surgeon-scientists made major contributions in the fields of transplantation biology, vascular biology, tumour immunology, nutrition, pulmonary physiology and injury/sepsis, and received generous NIH funding. He was not only a tremendous role model, but he also created opportunities for each of these investigators to flourish in the BWH environment and beyond. One measure of success was the number of presentations at the surgical forum of the American College of Surgeons. Mannick was particularly proud of the times when the Brigham faculty had the most abstracts presented at the forum. His own laboratory continued to make significant contributions even after his retirement as chair of surgery, when his NIH-funded research focused on abnormal lymphocyte responses that occur after injury. His track record for continuous NIH funding is unequalled. The BWH department of surgery continues to host an annual John A Mannick research awards ceremony in his honour. These awards recognise surgery residents and research fellows for their work in basic science, clinical or outcomes research. As a vascular surgeon, he was always well prepared, thorough and meticulous. He contributed many successful techniques to the practice of vascular surgery. These include vein grafts to reconstruct the tibial and peroneal arteries, the reduction of mortality from abdominal aortic aneurysm repair from more than five percent to less than two percent through the use of volume loading and minimal dissection of the aorta and iliac arteries. In addition, the use of axillofemoral and femorofemoral grafts to correct aortoiliac occlusive disease in certain high-risk patients, and the demonstration that autogenous tissue reconstruction techniques can be applied with very high rates of long-term success in over 90 percent of patients with limb-threatening femoropopliteal and infrapopliteal occlusive disease. Beyond the vascular fellows, he welcomed general surgery residents into his operating room, and many learned their first vascular anastomoses under his watchful eye. What he taught his general surgery residents in terms of technical innovation was of incalculable value throughout their careers. As a medical administrator Mannick was inspirational. Always punctual, his meetings were incredibly efficient. He was always ready with his incisive wit to defuse confrontation or provide support. He was also remarkable in that he always carried a very thin briefcase, and his desk was always clean by the end of the day. He governed his department with a small council of elders and decision-making was efficient, fact-based, and emphasised what was best for patient care. His example and mentorship helped develop a number of leaders. His mentees became chairs of departments of surgery at Washington University in St Louis, the National Children’s Medical Center, University of Wisconsin, the New England Deaconess Hospital, the University of Florida and Seattle Children’s Hospital, to name a few. He also produced several deans, CEOs and innumerable division chiefs throughout the country. He received many honours, leading the Society of Vascular Surgery, being president of the American Surgical Association and receiving the lifetime achievement award of the Society of Vascular Surgery. He was particularly proud of his honorary fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. Mannick was not only a role model professionally but also personally. He was an avid tennis player and in later years became an enthusiastic golfer. He met the love of his life, Virginia Gossard, while she was at Radcliffe College, in an organic chemistry class before medical school. He was particularly impressed when he discovered that she outperformed the rest of the class on their exams. A blind date subsequently led to their eventual marriage. ‘Ginny’ and this surgeon were great partners throughout his career and were an inseparable duo at meetings. As Mannick was frequently quoted saying, ‘Behind every successful surgeon stands a spouse, astonished!’ As Ginny’s health declined, he was a remarkably devoted and tender care giver. Predeceased by his wife, Mannick died on 13 October 2019 at the age of 91 and was survived by their daughters, Catherine, Elizabeth and Joan, and seven grandchildren. He will be remembered as the consummate surgeon-scientist, masterful administrator, and a devoted educator and mentor to many.