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Tribute to Otto Mayrhofer

We are sad to report the passing of Professor Mayrhofer, President of WFSA from 1972 to 1976.

Otto Mayrhofer was born in Vienna, Austria in 1920 and graduated as Dr med. Univ. from the University of Vienna in 1944. He specialised in anaesthesiology  after a short stint in pathology, completing specialist training at Columbia University, NYC (USA) and receiving his Fellowship Diploma in 1950.  

During his long career, Professor Mayrhofer was not only instrumental in the founding of the Austrian Society (1951) and official recognition of the specialty of anaesthesiology in Austria (1952), but he also helped to organise the first Austrian Anaesthesiology Congress which was held in Salzburg in 1952 and co-authored the first German-language textbook on anaesthesiology (1955).  

 In 1961, the University of Vienna appointed him to an associate professorship and the chair of its newly founded Institute of Anaesthesiology. In 1967, he became a full professor. Professor Mayrhofer’s research interests were broad, covering the entire field of what was in the latter half of the 20th century, a constantly expanding discipline.  

He also had a profound influence on global anaesthesiology, serving first as a member of the WFSA Executive Committee (elected at the first World Congress in 1955), co-organiser of the first European Congress in Vienna in 1962, as WFSA Secretary from 1964 and then as the first Secretary of the European Regional Section created in 1966. Professor Mayrhofer introduced the first WFSA Newsletter in the1960s and contributed to the book on WFSA’s development during the years 1955-1972. He was elected President of WFSA at the World Congress held in Kyoto, Japan in 1972 and served for a four-year term until 1976.  

Professor Mayrhofer held honorary memberships in specialist societies on all five continents, as well as honorary doctorates from the Universities of Szeged, Reims and Poznan. He was the recipient of the Cross of Honour for Science and Art, the Gold Medal of Honour of the City of Vienna and the Grand Silver Medal of Honour of the Republic of Austria. 

Read more: Interview with Professor Mayrhofer on the occasion of his 100th birthday in 2020.

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