Obituaries : Bypass Surgeon Ormand Julian

Dr. Ormand C. Julian, who in the 1940s helped perform the world’s first heart bypass surgery, has died at age 74.

Julian died Friday in San Rafael, Calif., said Carolyn Reed, spokeswoman for Chicago’s Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center, where he was chairman of the hospital’s department of cardiovascular-thoracic surgery from 1970 until 1972. She did not disclose the cause of death.

Julian and Dr. William S. Dye Jr. performed a heart bypass operation in the mid-1940s at Hines Veterans Administration Hospital in Chicago, Reed said.

Julian later suffered from heart disease himself but at first was not considered a suitable candidate for coronary bypass surgery, a procedure he had done so much to develop, Reed said.

When his conditioned worsened, the surgery was performed in 1974 at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s, and Julian lived 13 more years.

His research in the surgical aspects of cardiac and vascular disease led to the publication of more than 150 articles in this field. He was a member of numerous scientific, professional and charitable organizations.

He continued to be active in his retirement and helped start a cardiovascular surgery program at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, Calif.