We are sad to share that Dr. Lester W. Martin died March 31, 2020, at the age of 96. He was both a Charter Member of APSA and served as our President from 1983-1984. APSA sends our condolences to his family and colleagues.
Dr. Lester W. Martin
(from Dr. Daniel von Allmen and Saving Lifetimes)
Dr. Martin trained in surgery at Cornell and pediatric surgery with Robert E. Gross in Boston. He was instrumental in building the pediatric surgery department at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital where he was chief of surgery for 32 years.
He made many innovative contributions to the field including the eponymous Lester Martin Pull Through Method, which eliminated the need for a child to use an ostomy bag. He also performed the first successful kidney transplant in Ohio, in June, 1965. His ten years of clinical work was published in an landmark article in the Annals of Surgery in 1977. Dr. Martin was a master technician and started one of the early pediatric surgery fellowship training programs.
Learn more about his accomplishments in his obituary and in an interview with John Vester in 1990 for the University of Cincinnati Libraries.