He tended to his patients almost every day of his career. Colleagues called him a surgeon’s surgeon and a conscientious clinician. They could foretell of surgical complications when he stopped humming during operations. Anesthesiologists and surgical staff respected him for his calm comportment and demeanor. He mentored generations of thoracic surgeons and taught techniques of heart surgery in Japan, Singapore, the People’s Republic of China, and Argentina. Fellows and Residents admired him for his patience and supervision in the operating room. Returning after three days with a plan, Iowa perfected its own machine and further launched into the golden age of cardiothoracic surgery. Ehrenhaft capitalized on his engineering background and directed him to go to the University of Minnesota with instructions not to return until he could explain how physicians there built the first oxygenating unit for extracorporeal circulation, a prototype of the heart-lung machine. Although interested in tuberculosis research and patient care at the sanitorium on the University of Iowa Oakdale Campus, Dr. Iowa was one of only three thoracic surgery programs in the country at that time. Johann “Hans” Ehrenhaft recruited him to the University of Iowa in 1960 from the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. Ice cubes were then gradually added and when the patient’s body temperature cooled to exactly 86 degrees, blood vessels to the heart were clamped, providing exactly six minutes of operating time on the heart before the process needed to be reversed. This procedure predated the invention of the heart-lung machine and involved the immersion of an anesthetized patient into a converted horse trough of lukewarm water. His introduction to open heart surgery accompanied cold heart hypothermia techniques developed in the early 1950s to interrupt the functions of a beating heart long enough to repair it. Everett Koop, gaining exposure to thoracic and abdominal procedures. Like many first-generation cardiovascular surgeons, he originally trained in general and pediatric surgery. He co-published his final paper, on esophageal anastomotic leak, at the age of 93, attended his last academic conference two months ago, and remained active in his department throughout his career. His career as a surgeon and academic spanned almost the entire history of open-heart surgery. He helped perform the first kidney transplant in the state in 1969. For many years he served as Chief of Thoracic Surgery at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Iowa City. He was a professor of cardio-thoracic and vascular surgery at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine for 62 years, specializing in diseases of the lungs, coronary arteries, esophagus, big vessel ruptures, and valve blockages. He studied engineering in college and graduated with degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and Hahnemann Medical College. He served in the Pacific Theater and at the battle of Saipan. He graduated from Central High School in Philadelphia, several classes ahead of the linguist Noam Chomsky, and was drafted immediately into the military, where his interest in dentistry motivated authorities to place him in the Army Medical Corps. His Uncle Joe was principal of South Philadelphia High, home to notable high school heartthrobs who featured regularly on the nationally broadcast program, American Bandstand. Together they owned and operated a corner drugstore on 9th Street in the Italian Market. His mother was a homemaker, and his father was a pharmacist. on July 17, 1925, to Nicholas Peter and Edna Noland Rossi. Rossi Volunteer Guest House or University of Iowa Hospital Volunteer Program. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Newman Catholic Student Center, the Oaknoll Foundation, the Helen K. A Funeral Mass will take place Friday, November 18, at 11 AM at the Newman Catholic Student Center 104 East Jefferson Street, Iowa City, with a visitation one hour prior to the service. Visitation will take place Thursday, November 17, 2022, from 4 to 6 pm at Lensing Funeral & Cremation Service, 605 Kirkwood Avenue, Iowa City with a vigil service at 6 PM. died in the early morning of November 5 after a short illness.
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