Hamilton Naki, 78; Ex-Gardener Assisted in First Heart Transplant

Hamilton Naki, 78, a former gardener who became adept at anesthesiology and assisted in the world’s first heart transplant, died May 29 in Cape Town, South Africa, the University of Cape Town announced. No cause of death was given.

Naki, a black man who left high school because his family couldn’t afford the fees, went to work for the university by cutting grass when he was 14. By 1954, he was promoted to helping care for laboratory animals and eventually learned to assist in anesthetizing animals used to train surgical students.

Dr. Christiaan Barnard was so impressed by Naki’s skills that he asked him to be on the backup team in what became the world’s first successful heart transplant in December 1967.

In the laboratory, Naki was especially known for teaching medical students to perform intricate liver transplants on pigs, a procedure considered more complicated than human heart transplants.

Naki’s participation in the human heart surgery was kept secret until the demise of apartheid in 1994. Until then, the country’s racial segregation laws banned blacks from receiving medical training or having contact with white patients. Because of the subterfuge, Naki received only a gardener’s pension when he retired in 1991.