Legendary Cardiovascular Surgeon Dr. Michael DeBakey Dies

Dr Michael DeBakey, the renowned cardiovascular surgeon who was recognized internationally for his accomplishments in the field of medicine, has died Friday night at Houston's Methodist Hospital. He was 99.

Doctor DeBakey, whose career includes innovations in cardiovascular surgery and the artificial heart, died on Friday night from natural causes, according to a joint statement issued early Saturday by Baylor College of Medicine and the Methodist Hospital in Houston, Texas.

During his career, Dr. DeBakey treated a number of world leaders and international celebrities like Russian President Boris Yeltsin and movie actress Marlene Dietrich, and performed an estimated 60,000 operations.

"Dr. DeBakey’s reputation brought many people into this institution, and he treated them all: heads of state, entertainers, businessmen and presidents, as well as people with no titles and no means," said Ron Girotto, president of The Methodist Hospital System.

Dr. DeBakey, a surgeon, teacher and medical statesman, doctor of science, pioneered now-common procedures such as bypass surgery. During his ultra-successful career, he trained thousands of surgeons over several generations.

At the Baylor College of Medicine, he served as chancellor from 1979 to 1996, president from 1969 to 1979 and chairman of the surgery department from 1948 to 1993. He had been serving as a surgeon at The Methodist Hospital since 1949. He also was the director of the DeBakey Heart Center, which was established by Baylor in 1985 for research and public education in the prevention and treatment of cardiacdefine disease.

Dr. DeBakey's death was mourned yesterday by his friends and the officials of Methodist and Baylor. "He has improved the human condition and touched the lives of generations to come. We will greatly miss him," said Methodist President Ron Girotto.

Baylor President Dr. Peter Traber added that Dr. DeBakey established “a standard for preeminence in all areas of his life that those who knew him and worked with him are compelled to emulate. And he served as a very visible reminder of the importance of leadership and giving back to ones community."

Dr. George Noon, a cardiovascular surgeon and longtime partner of DeBakey's said, "Dr. DeBakey singlehandedly raised the standard of medical care, teaching and research around the world." He went on saying, "He was the greatest surgeon of the 20th century, and physicians everywhere are indebted to him for his contributions to medicine."

Born in 1908 in Lake Charles, La., Debakey is renowned for inventing and refining ways to repair weakened or clot-obstructed blood vessels using replacements made from preserved human blood vessels, and later, with artificial ones. He invented many of the procedures and more than 50 surgical instruments that are currently used to repair hearts and arteries.

In 2006, DeBakey underwent surgery for an aortic aneurysm, a condition for which he had developed treatment.