Robert E. Schmieg Jr.

Dr. Robert E. Schmieg, Jr., died at his home on Friday, October 23, 2009, surrounded by his family and close friends.
Services will consist of a visitation at St. James Episcopal Church in Jackson on Tuesday, October 27, 2009, from 5 pm to 8 pm, and funeral services on Wednesday, October 28, 2009, at 10 am, followed by a reception at his home. Additional services will take place at Trinity Episcopal Church in Natchez with visitation from 5 pm to 8 pm on Friday, October 30, 2009, and an Eucharistic memorial service at 11 am, preceded by visitation from 10 am to 10:45 am, and followed by a burial service at the Natchez City Cemetery.
Dr. Schmieg was preceded in death by his father, Robert E. Schmieg, Sr.; his grandparents, Dr. Homer A. Whittington, Elizabeth Wood Whittington, William Schmieg, and Elnora Schmidt Schmieg; his mother-in-law, Barbara Ginzel Pilchard, and his brother-in-law, Robert Thomas Pilchard.
He is survived by his wife, Susan Elizabeth Pilchard Schmieg; his mother, Rena Jean Whittington Schmieg of Natchez; his sister, Dr. Meredith Lynn Schmieg Mahan; his brother-in-law, Dr. Raymond Britt Mahan; his nephew, William Manfred Mahan; two nieces, Rebecca Meredith Mahan and Jennifer Lynn Mahan, all of Fayetteville, AR; his father-in-law, Dr. Edwin Ivan Pilchard and his brother-in-law, David Lee Pilchard, both of Silver Springs, MD, and a large number of aunts, uncles, and cousins.
A 1980 graduate of Trinity Episcopal Day School in Natchez, Dr. Schmieg was Valedictorian and was named the 1980 State Star Student for Mississippi by the Mississippi Economic Development Council. Because of contributions of his classmates and other friends, the school's science laboratory is being refurbished.
In 1984, he received two B.S. degrees, both Magna Cum Laude, in chemistry and in mathematics from the University of Mississippi. He received his M.D. from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, MD in 1989. While there, he held an American Heart Association Medical Student Research Fellowship. His Residency at the University of Virginia Health Sciences Center, Department of Surgery, Charlottesville, VA, from 1989 to1996 included four years as a Surgery Resident, two years as a Resident and Research Fellow, and a year as Chief Resident. This was followed by a Fellowship from 1996-1998 in Surgical Critical Care and Trauma at the University of Louisville, Department of Surgery, Louisville, KY. He is certified by the American Board of Surgery in both General Surgery and Surgical Critical Care and holds Provider Certificates in Basic Cardiac Life Support, Advanced Cardiac Life Support, Pediatric Advanced Life Support, Advanced Burn Life Support, and Advanced Trauma Life Support and an Instructor Certificate in Advanced Trauma Life Support.
From 1998-May 2002, Dr. Schmieg was on the faculty of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, as an Assistant Professor, Department of Surgery, Section of Burn, Trauma, & Surgical Critical Care. He served as their expert on snake bites and treatment. He was also a member of the Acute Spinal Cord Injury Team and on the General Surgery Staff at Saint Mary's Hospital, East St. Louis, Illinois.
Dr. Schmieg has been a faculty member of the University of Mississippi Medical Center since June, 2002, first holding a position as Assistant Professor of Surgery, and since 2008, as Associate Professor of Surgery, Department of General Surgery. During that time, he has served on, chaired, moderated, and coordinated numerous committees connected with the trauma program, infection control, critical care, and residency education, in which he was especially interested.
Dr. Schmieg's interests and hobbies included playing the guitar; making origami items; doing magic tricks; reading (his personal library included approximately 18,000 books); traveling; rescuing and caring for small animals, especially cats; working with computers; writing; visiting with friends and relatives; and creating fun activities for his nephew, nieces, and other younger family members.
Growing up in Natchez, Dr. Schmieg was involved in the Natchez Pilgrimage activities. He served as a host at his grandparents' antebellum home, "Twin Oaks", and participated in a number of tableaux in the Natchez Historical Pageant as a Page to Queen Marsha Colson, in the Little Maypole, the Maypole, the Polka, the Soirée as the featured dancer in the Sweetheart Waltz, and in the Royal Court.
Beginning with age seven through college, he was a competitive swimmer, winning his first state championship at age eight, and continuing to amass medals and trophies throughout his swimming career.
Dr. Schmieg loved his profession in all of its aspects—doing surgery; training residents; doing research; meeting the challenges involved with trauma surgery (He said that there was never the same thing twice, so it was always interesting.); teaching; and talking with his patients, staff members, and colleagues. He often said, "Any day in the O.R. is a good day." Dr. Schmieg was a prolific writer and research physician, being responsible for at least 4 chapters of medical books, several review articles, over 60 published articles and abstracts, over 34 oral and poster presentations at national meetings, and over 98 local and regional presentations. In 2008, he made several presentations at an international gastrointestinal conference in Switzerland. He has performed a tremendous number of surgical procedures and has had great success as a very dedicated trauma and general surgeon.. He especially loved working with, training, and mentoring surgical residents. The residents who completed their studies in 2009 created an award honoring his dedication and contribution to their education; the University has announced that this award will be continued annually as the Dr. Robert E. Schmieg, Jr. Resident Appreciation Award.
He valued his friendships from each place during his life, and during his illness especially enjoyed communicating with and seeing friends with whom he might not have been in contact for some time, as well as those whom he saw regularly. He wanted very much to have the opportunity to tell each person how much he or she had contributed to his life.
Dr. Schmieg was a Fellow in the American College of Surgeons and a member of the following organizations, committees, and societies: Reuters Insight—Independent Expert Consultant; Central Mississippi Trauma Region—Board of Directors, UMMC representative; Mississippi Trauma Advisory Council; Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma; American Burn Association; Society of American Gastrointestinal Endoscopic Surgeons; Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract; American Motility Society; Society of Critical Care Medicine; American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition; P.E.E.O. Society; American Medical Association; Southern Medical Association; Mississippi State Medical Association; Muller Surgical Society of the University of Virginia; Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity, University of Mississippi; The American Clan Gregor Society, a Scottish heritage organization; and Trinity Episcopal Church, where he and his beloved Susan were married on November 18, 2006.
In lieu of flowers, he would like to have people make donations to the Resident and Medical Student Endowment Fund, Department of Surgery, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Attn: Dr. Marc Mitchell, 2500 North State Street, Jackson, MS 39216 or to CARA, Community Animal Rescue & Adoption, 960 North Flag Chapel Road, Jackson, MS 39209.