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Jose Reis Santos was born to Joaquim Nunes dos Santos and Beatriz dos Reis Conilho in Aguas, a small village in the district of Beira Baixa in Portugal. He has two younger sisters Maria Salete and Isabel Maria. He went to the preparatory school in the village itself and then attended secondary school in the town of Castelo Branco, the main town in the district and graduated in 1965. The same year he entered Lisbon University Medical School, graduating in 1971 at the age of 24. After 2 years of training in General Surgery, he went on to train in urology at the Urology Unit in Curry Cabral Hospital in Lisbon, under Professor Alberto Matos Ferreira until 1978. In the same hospital he became “Ässistente Hospitalar” and Assistant Lecturer in Urology at the Medical School of Univsersidade Nova de Lisboa. He was married to Sandra in August 1971 in Rostherne, Cheshire, UK. They have two children Katya and Patrick.

Jose (Zé as his family and friends called him) was a very popular urologist in the whole of Portugal and he developed an extensive clinical practice. He became Professor of Human Biology and General Pathology at the Catholic University in Lisbon. Despite his busy schedule, he found time to teach regularly. He also found time for research and published more than 100 articles in books and journals. He published several papers on urolithiasis, particularly in the area of the epidemiology of stone disease. In this connection, it is not well known that he funded all his research with his own money. He was a member of 14 professional organisations. Additionally, he was Medical Adviser to 4 pharmaceutical companies at various times.

Zé was a very kind and generous man. He had a brilliant and cheeky sense of humour and was an excellent company and a generous host. He is survived by his wife Sandra, two children and two grandchildren. He will be sadly missed by his family, friends, patients and colleagues.