selecting a range based on name

[ahg984]

Hello,
I am trying to do the following.

Column A, Column B
John, 2
John, 3
John, 1
Max, 1
Max, 10
..

In column C, I would like Excel to select the maximum value from column B for each individual. Is there a way to do this?
Thanks for any help.

[martindwilson]

=MAX(INDEX(($A$2:$A$40=D2)*$B$2:$B$40,0)) where d2 holds a name

[ahg984]

That worked. Thanks a lot!