Henry J. Heimlich (1920–2016)

Henry Judah Heimlich was born in Wilmington, Delaware on February 3, 1920. He received a bachelor's degree from Cornell University in 1941 and a medical degree from Cornell Medical College in New York City in 1943. During World War II, he interrupted an internship at Boston City Hospital to join toon meer the Navy. He served with Chinese guerrillas in the Gobi Desert and Inner Mongolia. After the war, he was a resident at several hospitals in New York City. In 1950, he joined Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx. He developed and held patents on a number of medical innovations and devices including mechanical aids for chest surgery that were widely used in the Vietnam War, procedures for treating chronic lung disease, and methods for helping stroke victims relearn to swallow. He became the director of surgery at the Jewish Hospital in Cincinnati in 1969, created the Heimlich maneuver in 1974, and became professor of advanced clinical sciences at Xavier University in 1977. In 1984, he received the Albert Lasker Public Service Award for the Heimlich maneuver. He wrote several books during his lifetime including Dr. Heimlich's Home Guide to Emergency Medical Situations and Heimlich's Maneuvers: My Seventy Years of Lifesaving Innovations. His animated series for children, Dr. Henry's Emergency Lessons for People, won an Emmy in 1980. He died after suffering a heart attack on December 17, 2016 at the age of 96. (Bowker Author Biography) toon minder