: John Lemuel Cameron is one of the most influential surgeons of modern American surgery and has had a profound impact on shaping its current global landscape. He served as the president of 14 surgical societies and 4 of his presidential addresses focused on the lives of surgeons who he believed had made an exceptional contribution to the field of surgery: Harvey William Cushing, William Stewart Halsted, John Shaw Billings, and John Miller Turpin Finney. Many parallels can be drawn between these surgeons and Dr. Cameron. This paper describes Dr. Cameron's career in the context of the 4 legendary surgeons, about whom he chose to base his presidential addresses.