Peter was a unique person, impossible at times, but brilliant and utterly committed. The work he led at the Unit for the Study of Health Policy, Department of Community Medicine, Guy's Hospital Medical School, where I was a research assistant in the 1970s, was truly ground-breaking and resonates to this day. Concepts and ideas such as sustainable development, ecological public health, the determinants of health and the influence of the mass media on health, owe much to his pioneering verbal and written contributions. He was both deeply read and original, and also great fun to be with. I owe him a huge debt of gratitude: the values and principles that underpinned his work shaped mine for the rest of my life down to the present day. I have not yet accepted that you are no longer with us. With love, Jenny Griffiths