David Carl Rilling, MD

David Carl Rilling, MD, of Sellersville, PA, passed away peacefully on April 22nd at his home surrounded by his loving family. He was 83 years old. He was pre-deceased by his sister Barbara E. Raifsnider and his brother Paul J. Rilling. He was the son of Carl A. Rilling, MD and Elizabeth B. Rilling. He leaves behind his wife Karina, his 3 children - Jonathan (Laura), Alexander, Claudia, and his two grandchildren (Emma and Henry).

Born in Philadelphia on October 10, 1940, he was a graduate of Central High School in 1958 (class #209), and then Dickinson College in 1962 with Honors in biology. After attending Hahnemann Medical College he completed an internship at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. A subsequent surgical residency at Abington Memorial Hospital was interrupted by a draft into the Vietnam War where he served 2 tours with the 45th Surgical Hospital M.U.S.T. (Medical Unit Self-Sustained and Transportable). He was awarded the Bronze Star Medal, the Army Service Ribbon, the National Defense Service Medal, and the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal with 1960- device.

After completing his residency, he met Karina (née Sturman) and they married in 1972. His experience attending to traumatic amputation victims in Vietnam proved to be invaluable in 1977 when a local 19-year-old man suffered a severed arm in a machine shop accident. David and two other skilled surgeons successfully reattached the young man's arm at Grand View Hospital in Sellersville, PA. This was the first limb reattachment in the entire Philadelphia region and much of the U.S.

In 2014 David took a position as Chief of Surgery at Lock Haven Hospital from which he retired in 2020. The city of Lock Haven honored him with a 'Hometown Hero' banner that was hung in the city for two years.

Dr. Rilling also amassed an astonishing art collection from all over the world and generously donated much of it to the Smithsonian, the Yale Peabody, and the Trout Gallery at Dickinson College, among others. In 2014 Dickinson College honored him with the formation of the Rennie/Rilling Museum of Earth Sciences which showcased many of his donated fossils and minerals.

There will be a memorial service for David at Williams-Bergey-Koffel Funeral Home in Telford, PA on Saturday June 8, 2024. The website is www.WilliamsBergeyKoffel.com. Visitation hours from 10-11am followed by a service from 11-12pm.

In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation in memory of Dr. David C. Rilling to: Alumni Association of Central High School www.centralhighalumni.com/tribute-gift