Henry Schmidek

SCHMIDEK, Henry H., M.D. Of Peacham, VT, died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of 71 on Sunday, Oct. 26,2008, at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, England. He was born in China on September 10, 1937, where his father was a physician to the British. It was to the British that he returned in what were to be his final days as a Visiting Professor in Neurosurgery at the Nuffield Dept. of Surgery and as a Lecturer in Neuroscience at Balliol College, Oxford University.With a prodigious intellect, insatiable curiosity, and boundless enthusiasm, he fully embraced the potential of each day. Neurosurgeon, professor, author, mentor, student, cattle farmer, sailboat racer, fly fisherman, husband, dad, and grandpa - each facet of the man shone brightly as his life blazed across the sky like a comet. From the University of Chicago Lab School, at the age of 15, he entered the University of Chicago, and then chose the nobility of medicine at the University of Western Ontario, where he was awarded all of their gold medals for his year. His medical training then continued at McGill University, the University of London, and his beloved Massachusetts General Hospital, under his mentor, Dr. William H. Sweet. He also served his country as a naval officer, "the ship's doc", at the Chelsea Naval Hospital, and on board the U.S.S. Boston. The first few years of his neurosurgical odyssey were spent around Boston at the MGH, the Mt. Auburn Hospital, and Emerson Hospital. He then became the youngest Chairman of a Neurosurgical Dept. at that time at Hahnemann Medical College in Philadelphia. This was followed by the Chairmanship at the University of Vermont College of Medicine, and then Chief of the Neurosurgical Service at The New England Deaconess Hospital and an Associate Professor of Surgery at the Harvard Medical School. Next, he was Vice-Chairman of Neurosurgery at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Chief at St. Luke's Hospital in New Bedford, MA, Consultant for Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital, and then Senior Neurosurgeon at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Hanover, NH, from which he retired in 2001 to his beloved Vermont where he began his second career as the CEO of Brigadoon Farm, raising prized Kobe cattle. He had just begun his next great adventure as a professor at Oxford University. Studying was his passion. Whenever he wanted to learn a new endeavor, he would design himself a curriculum and then create a course so others could share in the learning. Twenty-five years ago he initiated a course: Review and Update on Neurobiology for Neurosurgeons at the Marine Biological Laboratories in Woods Hole, MA to excite and encourage neurosurgeons, young and old, in cutting edge research in the field; similarly, his innovative Dartmouth-Harvard-MIT Conference in Translational Research in the Neurosciences at MIT in 2005; for his own research he had been a NIH Senior Investigator in molecular genetics at Harvard Medical School. A prolific author of book chapters and articles, he also authored or edited 10 neurosurgical texts, including five editions of Schmidek and Sweet's Operative Neurosurgical Techniques, currently the most widely used text in neurosurgery throughout the world. The absolute joy of his life was his family - his wife of 36 years, Mary, and - indeed his finest legacy - his four children and their families: Ian and Camille, Alexandra, Jared, Robyn and Mark Lippert, and his grandsons, Henry Wyatt, 4 and 3/4, and 2 year old Alex. He is pre-deceased by his beloved first wife, Jamie. With the same passion for the challenges of medicine, he dove into sailboat racing, gaining national standing after only a two year campaign. Fly-fishing was a life-long pursuit for trout who, although elusive, at least live in exquisite places. At the age of 70, he purchased an expedition vehicle for some spell-binding off-roading. In addition to numerous academic societies, he had held membership in The New York Yacht Club, Harvard Club of Boston, Grosse Pointe Club and the Beverly Yacht Club in Marion, MA. When a terminally ill patient would say to him, "What do I do now, Doc?" he would advise them: "Go fishing, or whatever you enjoy, with those you love". On October 26th one of our very best "went fishing". Burial services will be private at his farm in Vermont near his favorite trout pond. His family wishes to invite all touched by his life to a "Celebration of His Life" this Friday, November 7th at 11 AM at The First Parish Church in Weston, 349 Boston Post Road, Weston, MA. He loved mentoring his students and so, if you so desire, contributions can be made to The Henry H. Schmidek, MD Neurosurgical Residents Education Fund at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Dept. of Neurosurgery, c/o Mr. Ronald Ash, 55 Fruit St. GRB-502, Boston, MA 02114.