OBITUARIES

Dr. Maurice J. Ward passed away on March 21, 2002. A native of Durban, South Africa, he was born on July 16, 1931. His early school years were in Rugby, England and later education, in medical school in Ottawa, Canada.

He served in the Royal Navy as Navigation Officer in Korea and was wounded at Inchon while landing US Marines. While in Ottawa, Ontario, he worked at Ottawa Civic Hospital and was an assistant in neurosurgery, developing the “Neuro-Probe and Light Fiberoptics” for use in neurosurgery.

He was a pioneer in open-heart surgery working as a cardiac physiologist at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland and the first joint program with the University of Stellenbosch, Cape Town, South Africa in the first heart transplant. He then worked at Swedish Hospital in open heart surgery in Seattle, and kidney transplantation at the Northwest Kidney Center, establishing the first organ retrieval regional medical program over a four-state region.

Dr. Ward was a consultant at Children’s Orthopedic Hospital (Burn Unit) in Seattle, the United Cerebral Palsy Center and was a Research Fellow in the Department of Surgery at the University of Washington.

He worked for a short time at Vancouver General Hospital, Vancouver prior to illness. He was admitted to the Sovereign Order of St. John of Jerusalem Knights Hospitaller in Vancouver in 1989 by His Highness, Prince Andrej of Yugoslavia.

He is survived by and in the hearts of his wife, Marti Ward, his children, Julie Turner, Carmen Requa and Jeff Armstrong, and two grandsons, Devin and Kyle.

Memorial gifts may be sent to: In Memory of Dr. Maurice J. Ward, Children’s Hospital, Central California Foundation, Orthopedics & Prosthetics, 9300 Valley Children’s Place, Madera, Calif. 93638 .

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