Frederick "Fritz" Ware M.D.

1928 - 2025

Frederick "Fritz" Ware, M.D.

June 16, 1928 - May 7, 2025

An Omaha, Nebraska Medical Legend Dies at 96.

Frederick VII "Fritz" Ware (Jr.) was born in Omaha, to Clara Louise ("Weese") Abbott Ware and Frederick VI John Harper Ware. Both parental families impacted Nebraska and Omaha history, as the Abbott family operated Nebraska School for the Blind in Nebraska City, and Fred Ware was former Executive Editor of the Omaha World Herald. Except for two years serving as an Air Force Flight Surgeon in San Antonio, TX, Fritz lived his entire life in the Omaha area.

Studying Gray's Anatomy and dissecting animals as early as elementary school, Fritz knew at a young age he was destined for the sciences. At age 10 he stated his determination to enter the medical profession, and he never wavered from this goal.

Throughout his adolescence he studied science and anatomy outside of school, sometimes challenging the veracity of the classroom curriculum. In one instance he contradicted his favorite Benson High School science teacher, Mrs. Wyckoff, regarding the presence of hemoglobin in earthworm blood. She stood corrected, and from that point forward provided separate homework and tests for Fritz. Fritz recalled, "She knocked me down to size and that helped. She was the best teacher I ever had." His high school chicken embryo science projects led to guest presentations at Creighton University, advising older college students. This opportunity launched his lifelong passion for teaching.

At 17 Fritz began college at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, NE, where he excelled as a decorated student and graduated with high distinction, earning every available scholastic honor during his undergraduate tenure. He graduated UNL at the age of 20 as a Nebraska Superior Scholar, receiving the C.W. Boucher Athletic Award as the senior athletic letter man in a major sport (track) with the highest four-year cumulative grade average. At the time, he had the highest academic average ever earned by a varsity athlete at Nebraska.

Fritz met his first wife, Elizabeth Diane Thomas, at a UNL Greek mixer, where Fritz was a member of Phi Beta Psi fraternity, and Diane was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta sorority. They were traditionally "pinned" during college, became engaged as Fritz graduated in 1949, and then married in 1950. They immediately began their family, producing children, Fred, Mary, Sally, Tom and Dana. Their union spanned 27 years.

Having completed his pre-medical schoolwork at UNL in 1949, Fritz directly entered the University of Nebraska College of Medicine (UNMC) in Omaha. By the age of 28 he had received a Master of Science in Physiology, and two doctoral degrees, the first a Doctor of Philosophy in Medical Physiology, Biochemistry, and Pharmacology, and the second a Doctor of Medicine (Cum Laude). As reported in the Omaha World Herald at the occasion of his UNMC graduations in 1956, he was "an extremely young man for two such advanced degrees," especially concurrently and with three children under the age of five at home.

From 1956 to 1961 Fritz completed his internship at Bishop Clarkson Memorial Hospital, his residency in Internal Medicine at UNMC, and served as a Flight Surgeon at Brooks Air Force Base in Texas.

Fritz's prominence as a professor began in 1960 teaching physiology and pharmacology at UNMC, adding internal medicine and biophysics throughout his university career until retiring in 1991.

He began practicing medicine at Clarkson Hospital in 1963, including roles in pharmacology, cardiac care, intensive care, respiratory therapy, hemodialysis, renal disease, and organ transplantation. At the height of his career he was President of Clarkson's medical staff, Medical Director and Manager of the Renal Disease Center, and Medical Director and President of Nebraska Organ Retrieval System (NORS; now Live On Nebraska).

Fritz's career achievements and dedication to life-changing healthcare provided profound advances in medicine, from Nebraska to the global medical community. In addition to significant published cardiovascular research early in his career, his extensive nephrological research and practice led to groundbreaking advances in organ retrieval and transplantation. His establishment of Clarkson Hospital's major Renal Disease Center in the 1960s led to his involvement in conducting the first kidney transplant trials in the Midwest. Then, he led the effort for UNMC and Clarkson Hospital to establish the first transplant program in 1970. By the mid-1970s Fritz prioritized the need for viable organs and helped organize the first organ retrieval program in Nebraska in 1977, NORS (Live On Nebraska). That program grew to procure additional organs including lungs, hearts, small intestines, and pancreas, as well as developing a program for recovering non-vascularized tissues. Through this work, Fritz gave countless patients a second chance at life.

Fritz left his practice in 1991 and continued to serve as president and medical director of NORS and medical director of Woodmen of the World Life Insurance Society in Omaha until 2004. In 2005 he was an honored recipient of the Clarkson Legends of Medicine award.

In his family life, Fritz met his second wife, Charlott, in the 1970s. Char was a dialysis nurse at Clarkson, and the pair enjoyed performing together in many annual Omaha Press Club shows. They were married in 1978, and welcomed three children, Andrea, Nick, and Ben. Fritz and Char celebrated 42 years of marriage before her death in 2020.

"Wareswold" was a 200-acre property near Fort Calhoun where he and Char built a custom home and lived for almost 30 years. Those were his happiest years, he often recalled. Whether chopping firewood, woodworking, reading, or settling into a Saturday Nebraska football game, Fritz loved being surrounded by family and nature (and enjoying a glass of scotch). He typically read two or three books at a time, keeping up on medical research, and enjoying a bit of fiction "as a treat."

Known for his sharp wit, sardonic sense of humor, unpretentious self-dismissal, and endless curiosity, Fritz enjoyed well-timed jokes and especially pranks. He had many, many stories, such as making a ferrous sulphide-hydrochloric acid concoction during an anatomy lab afternoon break. The resulting rotten egg odor required evacuation: "It was much stronger than I thought it would be," he recalled, with his distinctive smirk. He loved the family's annual holiday gag gift exchange (one example was a full 70s leisure suit that fit him perfectly).

He could effortlessly recite passages from his undergraduate reading assignments or patiently explain a quantum physics theory. He joked that if he were "a standard deviation smarter," he'd start over as a physicist.

In later years Fritz regularly attended the Wednesday morning Clarkson Retired Physicians' Group, which he affectionately referred to as the "Old Farts Club."

He was preceded in death by his wife, Charlott Johnson Ware; their children, Benjamin P. Ware and Nicholas H. Ware; his former wife, Diane Thomas Ware Paustian; their children, Mary D. Treloar and Sally E. Waters; and daughters-in-law, Teresa Ware and Julia Cates.

Fritz's surviving children include son, Frederick VIII Abbott Ware (Julia Cates, d.); son, Thomas N. Ware (Naomi Ware; Teresa Ware, d.); daughter, Dana Louise Ware Willett (James Willett); daughter, Andrea Ware-Medina (Patrick Ware-Medina); and daughter-in-law, Susan Waters (Sally Waters, d.).

Grandchildren include, Frederick IX Alexander Ware (Jessica Holt Ware), Matthew Ware (Brian Lin), Spencer Cates (Tenisha Cates), Luke Treloar (Mai Ngo Treloar), Marcella Waters, Morell Waters, Arden Waters, Rachel Ware (Tyrel Frazier), Samuel Willett, and Benjamin Willett.

Great-grandchildren include, Reagan Violette Ware and Frederick X Edson Ware.

Additional surviving relatives include sister, Doris Ann "Tanya" McCall (David), of San Antonio; nephew, F. Christenson "Chris" Ware (Marnie); and grand-niece, Clara Ware, of Chicago, IL.

Fritz was one month away from turning 97, and maintained his charm, wit, and mental acuity through the end, astounding us all.

MEMORIAL SERVICE: Saturday, June 28, 2025, 1 p.m., West Center Chapel, 7805 West Center Road, Omaha.

INTERMENT: Evergreen Memorial Park Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, memorials are suggested to Fontenelle Forest/Neale Woods Nature Reserve and the University of Nebraska Foundation's University Internal Medicine Fund.

Heafey-Hoffmann-Dworak-Cutler

West Center Chapel, 7805 West Center Rd.

402-391-3900 | www.heafeyheafey.com