A Tribute to our Colleague and Friend Dr. Francis Robicsek
Dr. Francis Robicsek, pioneering surgeon, humanitarian, long-term supporter of SACS, and friend and mentor to all, passed away peacefully April 3rd at the age of 94.
Born in Hungary in 1925, Dr. Robicsek was the founder of the Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute. He was one of the first surgeons to perform open-heart surgeries in Charlotte, NC, having performed more than 35,000 surgeries until his retirement in 1998.
Always finding a way to provide care for all, Dr. Robicsek traveled to numerous Central American countries to assist with surgeries, train doctors and nurses, establish cardiac surgery and pediatric intensive care programs, and fly patients to Charlotte to perform cardiac catheterizations, then fly them home. He also founded the Guatemalan Heart Institute, which performs 700 open-heart procedures each year.
For more details on Dr. Robicsek’s amazing life story and accomplishments, please click these links:
https://atriumhealth.org/dailydose/2020/04/13/remembering-dr-francis-robicsek-an-innovator-and-humanitarian
https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/06/us/surgeon-francis-robicsek-buried-scrubs-trnd/index.html
SACS was honored to have Dr. Robicsek speak at our 2018 meeting, to which he received a standing ovation. To view the text of his presentation, please click on the link below.
