After just completing his neurosurgical training in 1954 Dr. William Horsey visited Queen Square, England, where on one occasion he attended a pathological conference discussing a young man who had died from complications following biopsy of a low grade astrocytoma. One of the surgeons present, none other than the brilliant, mercurial and sometimes flamboyant Wylie McKissock, asked young Horsey what he thought of the case. What followed was not the primitive, colonial opinion that might have been expected. Unintimidated, Dr. Horsey said that he probably would not have operated on the man in the first place, since he was neurologically well-preserved bearing an intrinsic tumor causing minimal deformity of the ventriculogram. But if he had operated, Horsey went on, he would have finished the job with a proper decompression of the affected temporal lobe, rather than just a biopsy. And, he continued, if he had made the decision to treat this young man's tumor, he would also have treated his postoperative clot, with a second operation, to save the patient's life. It was this kind of sharp intelligence and sensibility, which so silenced a crowded Queen Square conference room that morning, combined with a superb operating technique and a particular dedication to teaching that characterized Bill Horsey's neurosurgical career.