WILLIAM W. PFAFF

PFAFF, WILLIAM W.

Dr. William W. Pfaff died on March 6, 2014, the result of side effects of prostate carcinoma. He was the son of Dr. Norman Joseph Pfaff and Eleanor Blakesly Wells Pfaff, born in Rochester NY on August 14, 1930. He was educated at Harvard University, the University of Buffalo-College of Medicine, followed by post-graduate years at the University of Chicago, the National institutes of Health and Stanford University. He joined the faculty of the University of Florida in 1965 and was promoted to full professor in 1971.

He was married to Patricia Ann Clark Pfaff for 53 years. They have four daughters, Nancy Loftus, Karen Fluman, Peggy Pfaff-Walton and Cathy Sak, and nine grandchildren.

He was best known for his experience in organ transplantation, performing the first successful kidney transplant in Florida in 1966 and with his medical colleagues, Bob Cade and Dana Shires organized the first transplant program in Florida. At the same time he was active in conducting a practice in general surgery which he regarded as his primary role, transplantation his avocation.

He was a member of the American Surgical Association, the Southern Surgical Association, the Transplantation Society, the American Society of Transplant Surgeons and state and local medical groups. He served as the president of the Alachua County Medical Society, the Southeastern Organ Procurement Foundation and the United Network for Sharing, the national organization overseeing organ transplantation. He also was president of the Florida chapter of the Kidney Foundation and the End-Stage-Renal-Disease program. Dr. Pfaff will be remembered for his leadership of bringing people together, and the notion of sharing for the greater good with respect to organ procurement and transplantation.

He and his family loved their lives in Gainesville, cherished their friends and were happy with their educational years and their lives that have followed. Dr. Pfaff was a voracious reader and never stopped learning. He was an avid sailor, the original "foodie", and made a point of finding joy in every day.

Services will be private. To honor his memory, donations may be made to Doctors Without Borders (www.doctorswithoutborders.org) or Haven Hospice, E.T. York Care Center, 4200 NW 90th Blvd, Gainesville, FL, 32606.