When the history of the Royal Medical Society in the second half of the twentieth century comes to be written, a name which is certain to feature prominently in it will be that of Jack Cormack, whose death on 7 July 2002 is a most grievous loss not just to the Society but to the entire Edinburgh medical community. There was never a more faithful champion of the Society's highest ideals and it was this which inspired his incomparable service to it in many different capacities.