Few surgeons lived their lives as fully as Desmond Albert Cooper, Dr Des. He was an astonishingly good surgeon, a fine man and a man of many talents. As my son said ‘The Doc was funny, generous, kind, helpful, clever, and friendly and a great sailor and a good fisherman.’ Before he died we chatt

Sir William Slack, known as Willie to his friends and colleagues (but always William to his wife), was a much-admired surgeon at the Middlesex Hospital who served as a surgeon to the Queen for 15 years between 1975 and 1990. He was born on 22 February 1925 to Cecil Moorhouse Slack, who was awarde

John James Barclay Hobbs was educated at St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical College and qualified with the Conjoint Diploma in 1949, graduating with the London MB, BS, the same year. After holding the post of orthopaedic and casualty house surgeon at the Luton and Dunstable Hospital he did his nation

Mike Ward, a pioneering climber and expert on altitude medicine and physiology, and a member of the 1953 expedition team which made the first ascent of Everest, was a consultant surgeon in London’s East End. He was born in London on 26 March 1925, the son of Wilfred Arthur Ward, a civil servant in M

Andrew Francis Masson was director of the emergency department and subsequently chairman of ambulatory care at the University of Alberta Hospital, Edmonton, Canada. He was born in Kingston, Jamaica on 27 March 1927, the son of Ethel Mabel Masson née Thwaites and Andrew Francis Masson and grew up in

Jacques ('Jack') Loeb was chief of surgery at the Oakville-Trafalgar Memorial Hospital in Oakville, Ontario, Canada, and also an author and anatomist. He was born in Berlin on 31 August 1925, the son of Joseph Loeb, founder of Loeb and Sutheim, one of the most prominent furriers in Europe, and Else

Henry Beric Wright was director of medical services at BUPA. He studied medicine at University College Hospital Medical School, qualifying in 1942. Prior to his appointment at BUPA, he was a surgical officer at Shell, an assistant surgical registrar at University College Hospital and a major in the

Edgar Williams Parry was a consultant surgeon at Broadgreen, Bootle and Waterloo hospitals, Liverpool, and a leader in the field of vascular surgery. He was born at Betws Garmon, a hamlet in north Wales, on 1 May 1919, the son of a farmer, and was educated at Caernarvon Grammar School. He studied me

Doug Tracy was foundation professor of surgery at the University of New South Wales at St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney from 1969 to 1986. He was born in Sydney on 14 May 1926, the eldest of three sons of Haydn Douglas Tracy and Florence Tracy née McCarthy. His mother died in childbirth when he was jus

John Pendower was a consultant surgeon at Charing Cross Hospital, London and Mayday Hospital, Croydon. He was born on 6 August 1927, less than ten years after the end of the First World War; his father had been a teenage infantryman on the Somme. He grew up through turbulent and exciting times, and

William Milo Keynes was an honorary consultant surgeon at the Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford, and subsequently a writer and medical editor. He was born on 9 August 1924, the third son of Sir Geoffrey Keynes, a former vice president of the College, and Margaret Elizabeth née Darwin, a descendant of Char

Cecilie Grieg received her medical education at the West London Hospital Medical School and qualified with the Conjoint Diploma in 1944, gaining her Fellowship in 1955. In her early career she specialized in obstetrics and gynaecology and held junior appointments at St Mary Abbots Hospital, Epsom Co