MONTREAL -- Dr. Tony Dobell, a noted cardiovascular and thoracic surgeon and former goaltender for the McGill University men's hockey team, passed away suddenly on June 17. He was 88.

Born Anthony Richard Curzon Dobell on May 13, 1927, he went on to serve as surgeon-in-chief and director of the pediatric cardiovascular surgery division at the Montreal Children's Hospital. He was one of the first physicians to perform open-heart surgery in Canada. He worked with adults and children after graduating from McGill's school of medicine in 1951. During his career, he performed more than 2,000 heart operations on children.

Dobell, who entered McGill out of Bishop's College School, stopped pucks for the Redmen in the 1944-45 season and from 1948 to 1950, also played on the intermediate rugby and football teams from 1946 to 1948. He graduated with a science degree from McGill in 1949 before entering medical school. He was a three-year member of the Scarlet Key Society (1945-47), an honorary organization elected by the student body and appointed for outstanding service to the University. He served as president of the group in 1946 and also sat on the Students Athletics Council in 1947.

In the 1951 Old McGill Yearbook, he selected the following inscription to accompany his grad photo: "Time must be fought with, rushed at, over-awed, and threatened with a sword."

An obituary in The Montreal Gazette reported that in 1962, he donated his own blood to a six-year-old girl he operated on because they shared the same rare blood sub-group. In the 1990s, when a young child's heart stopped, he quickly performed an open-chest heart massage for the first time in 15 years to save the boy's life.

His career path involved stints in hospitals in Montreal and Philadelphia, where he pursued his residency. Dobell was both professor emeritus and director of McGill's cardiovascular and thoracic surgery division. In 1997, he was made a member of the Order of Canada for his work.

Most of his career was spent in Montreal-area hospitals, notably the Royal Victoria and the Montreal Children's. He spent most of his weekends working outside his home in the Laurentians, near Ste. Agathe. Beyond his love for medicine, Dobell was married to his first wife, Cynthia, for over 50 years until she died in 2006. He is survived by his second wife, Marion and leaves behind four children, seven grandchildren and a great-grandchild.

A memorial service will be arranged later in the summer. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to The Montreal Children's Hospital -- Cardiovascular Surgery Department.

See Gazette Obituary: Anthony Dobell, fixer of thousands of children's hearts


SOURCE:
 
Earl Zukerman
Communications Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
514-398-7012 (Tel.)
MOBILE SITE: http://mcgillathletics.ca/mobile/index.aspx
WEBSITE: www.mcgillathletics.ca
E-MAIL: earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca