Eliot Corday; Cardiologist, Heart Researcher

Dr. Eliot Corday, 86, a cardiologist who spent more than 50 years at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and invented the still-experimental retroperfusion technique for treating heart attacks, which pumps blood backward through veins to reach threatened heart tissues. Born in Prince Rupert, British Columbia, Corday came to California in 1947 following work in New York at Mt. Sinai and Bellevue hospitals. A noted physician, teacher, researcher and mentor, Corday was past president of the American College of Cardiology, a two-term member of the National Advisory Heart and Lung Council of the National Institutes of Health and national consultant in cardiology to the surgeon general. Until his recent illness, he was a senior attending physician at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and clinical professor of medicine at the UCLA School of Medicine. He is survived by his wife, Marian, daughter, Joanne Kozberg, son, Dr. Stephen Corday, and two grandchildren. Services will be Wednesday at 2 p.m. at Hillside Memorial Park. The family encourages contributions to the Eliot Corday Memorial Fund in Cardiology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. On Feb. 8 at Cedars-Sinai of heart failure.