Roy H. Clauss

ROY H. CLAUSS, M.D. - (1923-2007) - July 7, 2007 - New York, New York - Roy H. Clauss, M.D., a pioneering cardiovascular and thoracic surgeon, died today in New York City. He was 84.

During his career Dr. Clauss helped develop and perfect a variety of techniques involved in the performance of open heart surgery and cardiac bypass surgery, and helped pioneer bilateral carotid artery surgery, among other accomplishments.

Encompassing his nearly 50 years of medical practice, Dr. Clauss authored over 150 medical articles in the fields of cardiac and vascular surgery and held positions with many medical societies including: President, New York Society for Cardiovascular Surgery; President, American College of Chest Physicians, New York Chapter; and President, New York Society for Thoracic Surgery. In 1971 Dr. Clauss co-authored Remedial Arterial Disease with his friend and colleague, the late Dr. Walter Redisch.

Dr. Clauss was born in Melrose Park, Illinois. He graduated from Northwestern University in 1943 and from its medical school in 1947. He served active duty in the U.S. Navy before training under the legendary Francis D. Moore MD at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Massachusetts, and later with another cutting edge physician of his era, Dr. Dwight E. Harken

After completing his internship at the U.S. Naval Hospital at St. Albans, a residency at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston from 1949 through 1953, and a U.S. Public Health Service Special Research Fellowship at Harvard University Medical School from 1957 Ð 1958, inspired by the energy and professionalism of top-flight, cutting-edge medical practice in New York City, Dr. Clauss made New York his home. He remained in New York for the bulk of his medical career, including: a residency at Bellevue and Presbyterian Hospitals from 1953 through 1955, service as an attending physician and Associate Professor of Surgery at New York University Medical Center from 1960 through 1969; service as an attending physician and Professor of Surgery at New York Medical College from 1969 through 1994; and the positions of Chief of Thoracic Surgery, Manhattan Veterans Hospital, 1955 through 1957, and Chief of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery at Metropolitan Hospital from 1969 through 1994.

Ever the teacher and scientist, Dr. Clauss' career was filled with giving young residents and surgeons the same type of rigorous training and instruction that had launched his career and inspired his practice. He trained and mentored hundreds of foreign medical graduates from around the world and often traveled to their home countries to lecture and to teach advanced surgical techniques. Dr. Clauss and his second wife, Pamela Heavy Clauss, a surgical and heart pump nurse, along with Greek surgeon, Dr. George Sanoudos, helped establish the first open heart surgery facility in Athens, Greece, in the mid 1970's.

In the 1980's Dr. and Mrs. Clauss traveled to Yugoslavia and Albania several times to donate their surgical skills to patients who could not afford to travel to or undergo life saving surgery in the United States.

Dr. Clauss was a beneficiary of some of his own contributions to his art and practice, undergoing multiple bypass surgery on his own heart at age 62, performed by his life-long friend and fellow cardiac surgeon Dr. George E. Reed.

In addition to his medical practice, Dr. Clauss was a family man, a patron of the arts and a man of faith. He married his first wife, Jane Harnden Clauss, from Oak Park, Illinois, in 1945. With Jane he raised three children during a 24 year marriage that ended in divorce in 1969. In 1970 he married Pamela Heavy Clauss, and remained her devoted husband until her death in August, 2001. He had a tremendous love of the arts and music, frequenting the Metropolitan Opera and the New York Philharmonic as a patron. Dr. Clauss was for many years a member and then Deacon and Elder of the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, in New York City. In 1993, he was one of the founding members of The City Church, New York.

Dr. Clauss is survived by three children: Roy S. Clauss of Greenwich, CT, Eliot R. Clauss of New York City, and Jane Clauss Wolf, of Savannah, Georgia; eight grand children, three great grand children; three siblings: Armand Clauss and Robert Clauss of Chicago, Illinois, Carol Jane Spandikow of Hereford, Arizona and many, many devoted friends, colleagues and parishioners.

Services for Dr. Clauss will be at the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel at 81st Street and Madison Avenue on July 10, 2007 at 11:30 am.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests that contributions be made on Dr. Clauss' behalf to "Mend a Broken Heart Foundation" an organization providing open heart surgery to children in need. P.O. Box 434 Elmsford, New York 10523.