EARLE BROWN graduated MBChB from Otago University in 1960. His plastic surgery training was at Middlemore Hospital in Auckland under the tutelage of Sir William Manchester and at Canniesburn Hospital in Glasgow. He was a staff member of the Plastic Surgical Unit at Middlemore from 1970 to 2005. MICHAEL KLAASSEN graduated with an MBChB from Otago University in 1980 and qualified as a plastic surgeon in 1990 after completing his training at Middlemore and Waikato Hospitals in New Zealand. Dr Earle Brown was his original mentor in plastic and reconstructive surgery in 1987.