A true legend in OKC medicine has died.

http://m.newsok.com/article/5537317


First, in 1959, alongside Drs. Allen Greer and John Carey, Zuhdi performed the first heart bypass operation in Oklahoma and installed the first pacemaker in the state.
Then, in 1970, Zuhdi implanted a human patient with the aortic valve from a pig — the first such procedure performed in North America.
In 1985, Zuhdi performed the state's first human-to-human heart transplant, marking the first time in the United States that the procedure was performed in a hospital not associated with a medical school.


I don't want to change this to a political story but I wonder what his chances would have been if he was trying to come to the US today.


Zuhdi was born in Beirut, Lebanon, on May 19, 1925, the son of a Syrian ophthalmologist father and Turkish mother.

When he and his family came here, it was a different time and people weren't being blown up, shot, knifed, hacked and run over as they are now. I don't even know if he was Muslim or not. He was a brilliant surgeon, however.

I met him once. He was a strange fellow but very personable. I'm sure he'll be missed.

I remember back in the early 70's, I used to ride around with my older brothers and their friends when they got their cars, and we would drive out around the rural areas of Okc and surrounding counties. At the time, Dr. Zuhdi lived out in far NW Okc where it was then all farm and pasture land. We used to drive out there to try to see his home because it looked like a cat from a distance, and was only visible from about ½ mile away when coming down the road from either direction. It appeared then to be some very contemporary architecture. I’ve never seen it up close but it looks very modern in Google earth imagry. Back then there was nothing surrounding his place, but today, housing additions are encroaching fast.

RIP Dr. Zuhdi.

I met him once. He was a strange fellow but very personable. I'm sure he'll be missed.

Dustin, same here, I met him a couple of times, and it was exactly as you said. I remember he had a big bowl of m&m's on his desk and he ate them like popcorn.

My curiosity got to me so I looked a little more and I was saddened to see that a housing addition now buts right up to Dr. Zuhdi’s old property and his home has been razed and replaced with and oilfield drilling site. Here’s what it looked like from the air.

https://www.google.com/maps/@35.6229894,-97.6465239,210m/data=!3m1!1e3

So sad to hear. My dad used to mow his lawn in the 90s and I had many encounters with him. He was always so kind to my family.