In memoriam

Francis Robicsek (4.7.1925 – 3.4.2020)

Markus K. Heinemann

The German Society for Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery (DGTHG) mourns the loss of its long-time Honorary Member Francis Robicsek who died peacefully at home in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA, on April 3rd, 2020.

Francis (Ferenc) Robicsek was born in Miskolc, Hungary, on July 4, 1925, studied medicine at the Pazmany Peter University, Budapest, graduating summa cum laude in 1949. He then entered surgical training at the University of Budapest where he eventually was in charge of the budding Department of Heart Surgery. In October 1956 he and his pregnant wife Livia (aka “Lilly”) fled the Communist revolution in Hungary, entering their new life by S-Bahn from East to West Berlin. An uncle, working as a contractor in Charlotte, North Carolina, finally brought the family there. Francis started working with thoracic surgeon Paul Sanger at the Charlotte Memorial Hospital, now Carolinas Medical Center. Together with their partner, Fred Taylor, they performed the first open-heart operations in the city, utilizing a self-made heart-lung machine.

In Charlotte Francis Robicsek found the fertile ground on which he could build a lifetime of constant development and innovation in cardiothoracic surgery. His wide interest and surgical capability encompassed virtually everything including surgery for congenital heart disease and transplantation. Over decades his two favorites in surgery remained the correction of pectus excavatum and reconstruction of the aortic root and ascending aorta. His name will, however, always be associated with the rewiring technique for postoperative sternal instability. “I’ll be remembered for complications”, he used to mumble in his distinctive gravelly voice and Hungarian accent.

Apart from surgery he had plenty of other interests which, in his typical way, he also pursued to perfection. When in Honduras in the 1960s, operating on tuberculosis patients, he came into contact with the Maya culture, finally writing five books on various aspects including the legendary ball game and the hieroglyphic script on ceramic vases. He amassed an impressive collection of pre-Columbian articles of virtu. The majority is on display in the Lilly and Francis Robicsek Galleries of Charlotte’s Mint Museum of Art, next to his equally formidable assortment of Russian icons, Spanish-Colonial art and medieval Dutch paintings. His collections of airline air-sickness bags and cat figurines remained private.

Central America became a second home to Francis Robicsek during his constant endeavors to establish state-of-the-art cardiac surgery but also pediatric and neonatal intensive care units in countries like Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, Nicaragua and El Salvador. The various projects were amalgamated in 2009 into the International Medical Outreach Program, formed by a partnership between Carolinas Health Care System (now Atrium Health) and Heineman Medical Outreach.
Francis Robicsek particularly cultivated his German friendships. A long scientific collaboration with Fritz Hehrlein eventually earned him the Justus Liebig Medal of Distinction of Giessen University. At Hannover Medical School he fostered the development of computerized intensive care monitoring. A rafting trip with Hans Borst down the Usumacinta River between Guatemala and Mexico to visit the hidden Maya ruins of Bonampak and Yaxchilán became legendary. He frequently visited and taught at many German hospitals, universities, and conventions and offered specialized training for surgeons in Charlotte in return. The German Society for Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery awarded Francis Robicsek an Honorary Membership in 1993. He was also a faithful reviewer for The Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgeon for decades and some of his last original publications were published in that very journal in 2019 (!).

Cardiothoracic surgery has lost one of its all-time greats, a true giant on whose shoulders many of us try to stand. We must be grateful that Francis Robicsek could be with us for so many years, intellectually brilliant and with a dry wit to the very end.

I am indebted to the Robicsek family for authorizing this obituary