&NA;Alan Parks was born December 19, 1920. After attending Epsom College, he proceeded to Brasenose, Oxford, receiving his B. A. in 1943. That same year he was awarded a Rockefeller Fellowship to attend Johns Hopkins University to complete his medical training, and took a medical internship there. He returned to Guy's Hospital, London, and in 1949 he passed the examination for F.R.C.S. Following a period in the National Service in the Far East, Parks came back to Guy's to continue his research on anatomy of the anal canal. There followed numerous publications that provide an extraordinary testament to his dedication as a scientist and to his creative thinking.Parks was appointed Consultant Surgeon to the staff of St. Mark's Hospital in 1959 and to the London Hospital in the same year. His practice attracted many surgeons from throughout the world who came to train and to observe. He was regarded as a brilliant surgical technician, a compassionate humanitarian, an indefatigable worker, and a revered teacher.In 1954, Parks obtained a Master of Surgery for his work leading to his special operation for hemorrhoids. Through the years the name Alan Parks has been associated with innovation in the field of colon and rectal surgery. His contributions included the development of a number of surgical instruments, the etiology and classification of fistula‐in‐ano, physiology and anatomy of the pelvic floor, the treatment of anal incontinence, and the application of ileal reservoir with ileoanal anastomosis for the surgical management of ulcerative colitis and familial polyposis. It is this last subject, written with his colleague R. J. Nicholls, that has been chosen to be reproduced here as a classic article in colon and rectal surgery.Parks' honors were numerous, and included Presidency of the Section of Proctology of the Royal Society of Medicine, Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians, and honorary fellowships from the American, Australasian, Canadian, Edinburgh, and Glasgow Colleges of Surgeons. A few days before his death he was admitted to honorary fellowship of the Italian Surgical Society. His contributions were further recognized when he was awarded a knighthood.Sir Alan Parks died after emergency cardiac surgery November 3, 1982.