Pioneering heart surgeon dies

http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/stories/2009/02/09/daily10.html



Vallee Willman, a national pioneer in heart surgery and the first surgeon in the Midwest to perform a heart transplant, died Sunday at his home in Webster Groves after a long illness. He was 83.

Dr. Willman was chairman of the Department of Surgery at Saint Louis University for 27 years, retiring from that position in 1996.

Under his leadership, he and other surgeons at Saint Louis University were some of the first to use procedures that led to coronary bypass surgery.

He performed the first heart transplant in the Midwest in 1972.

Dr. Willman donated his body to Saint Louis University School of Medicine.

A memorial Mass will be celebrated at 7:30 p.m. March 6 at St. Francis Xavier (College) Church in St. Louis. Visitation will occur in the church at 7 p.m., with a reception to follow Mass in the church’s ballroom.

In addition to his wife, Melba, of 57 years, Willman’s survivors are his children: Philip (Hilda) Willman, St. Louis; Elizabeth (James) Murphy, Kirkwood; Susan Willman (Patrick O’Brien), Oakland, Calif.; Stephen Willman (Colleen Peters), St. Louis; Mark (Valerie) Willman, Kauai, HI; Jane Turner (Julian Bush), St. Louis; Vallee (Claire) Willman Jr., Webster Groves; and Sarah (Brian) Cuneo, Bethesda, Md.; as well as 18 grandchildren. A son, Timothy, died in 1975.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial contributions to Saint Louis University, Willman Endowed Chair, 221 N. Grand Ave., Room 319, St. Louis, Mo., 63103.