Carroll Joseph Bellis

May 11, 1908 - February 3, 2015 Prominent Long Beach Surgeon Passes at Age 106. Dr. Carroll Joseph Bellis passed away February 3, 2015 peacefully in his Rolling Hills home. Dr. Bellis was an accomplished musician; his piano playing put him through medical school in St. Paul, Minnesota. Dr. Bellis studied at the University of Minnesota where he obtained his Doctorate in Medicine as well as PhDs in physiology and surgery. During World War II, Dr. Bellis worked as the surgical consultant to the Surgeon General of the U.S. Army and was stationed in Atlanta, Georgia. He moved to California in December of 1946 where he performed over 28,000 herniorrhaphies at St. Mary's Medical Center in Long Beach until he retired in 1995 at age 86. Dr. Bellis' medical career spanned 60 years. All his life, he enjoyed teaching, writing, reading, playing music, loving his family and caring for his sweet dachshunds. Dr. Bellis invented and perfected the mersilene mesh hernia procedure and was the first to perform herniorrhaphies as an out-patient surgery. He was named Fellow in Surgery at the Mayo Clinic and he instructed surgery at the University of Minnesota Medical School. The Minneapolis Surgical Society awarded him a medal for "Service to Humanity" in recognition of his studies in spirometry and atelectasis after surgery. He was Phi Beta Kappa, Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine, Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, and was certified by the American Board of Surgery. Dr. Bellis was the author of fifty-two publications in surgical and physiological literature including three books: Fundamentals of Human Physiology; Critique of Reason; and Lectures in Medical Physiology. Dr. Bellis raised two wonderful boys, Joseph and David, who were both accomplished musicians and teachers. Dr. Bellis is survived by his loving wife, Mildred, daughter, Ann, grandson, James, his nephews, nieces, and friends. He is described by many as a great man. Always humble, Dr. Bellis requested no memorial services be held.