Dr. Henry Gans
July 1, 1925 - June 29, 2017
Dr. Henry Gans died on June 29, 2017 two days before his 92nd birthday after an 8 year struggle with congestive heart failure. Throughout he was positive and productive enjoying life, his mind always searching for knowledge and discovery. Henry Gans was born in 1925 in Zevenaar, the Netherlands and survived the Holocaust by working as a farm hand. After medical school in Holland where he received his MD and served briefly in the Dutch Army he published the first contemporary text on liver surgery, "Introduction to Hepatic Surgery" (Elsevier, 1955), reviewed and recognized as such by the Brit J. Surg, Proc Royal Soc Med, Armed Forces Med J, S.G.O., and many other medical publications. He received a D. Sc. Degree (cum laude) for this work from Nijmegan University in the Netherlands.
Trained in surgery at the Univ. of Minnesota, he obtained medical licenses to practice in Minnesota, New York, Illinois and Florida. As he continued his research he qualified for a Ph.D. degree from the Univ of Minnesota. He received a NIH Research Career Development Award after introducing in 1960 the first anti-fibrinolytic agents as lifesaving treatment for excessive bleeding associated with open heart surgery, a treatment that is still widely used today.
Moving subsequently to New York Hospital - Cornell Medical School where he, with the help of a colleague, Dr. Armand Cortese, performed in 1969 the world's two first split-liver transplantation. The first performed on May 9, 1969, was on a woman age 24, the second (in August 1969) was on an infant with biliary cirrhosis, using in both instances only half of the donor liver. In the infant the donor liver was obtained from a 6 year old boy.
In New York City he and his wife became ardent collectors of American art and Precolumbian art. In the late seventies he helped start a new school of clinical medicine at the Univ. of Illinois in Urbana/Champaign, before retiring as a professor of surgery, pathology and biochemistry after attending graduation of the third medical school class.
Widely published, he was a member of numerous medial, scientific and art-related societies and a contributor to the medical and scientific literature on a wide range of subjects. Also, he and his wife became substantial donors to a number of medical, educational and philanthropic organizations and major charities that included The Mayo Foundation, The National Wildlife Federation, the World Wild Life Fund, The American College of Surgeons, The University of Minnesota and Florida Atlantic University.
After his retirement he spent summers on Long Island in Brookhaven Hamlet in their vacation home on The Great South Bay and the winters in a beach front apartment in Jensen Beach, Florida. In 1990 they became full time residents at Piper's Landing in Palm City, Florida. Here he worked from its 1995 inception for six years a a surgical consultant at the local Volunteers in Medicine Clinic with Dr. Fred Carter, the clinic's founder. As a writer he wrote "The Holocaust Trilogy" and a book of short stories, "Stories My Mother Never Told Me."
His wife and he operated an art and antique business, A Certain Ambiance, in Illinois, Long Island and Florida (from 1978 to 2009), the latter at 522 Colorado Avenue in Stuart.
Survivors include his wife of more than 59 years, Mary Ann Lunday Gans of Palm City, his beloved Siamese cat LingLing and several nieces and nephews. Memorial contributions may be made to the World Wildlife Fund, Audubon-Florida or The American College of Surgeons (Henry and Mary Ann Gans Scholarship Fund).
Yes we were very lucky.
Trained in surgery at the Univ. of Minnesota, he obtained medical licenses to practice in Minnesota, New York, Illinois and Florida. As he continued his research he qualified for a Ph.D. degree from the Univ of Minnesota. He received a NIH Research Career Development Award after introducing in 1960 the first anti-fibrinolytic agents as lifesaving treatment for excessive bleeding associated with open heart surgery, a treatment that is still widely used today.
Moving subsequently to New York Hospital - Cornell Medical School where he, with the help of a colleague, Dr. Armand Cortese, performed in 1969 the world's two first split-liver transplantation. The first performed on May 9, 1969, was on a woman age 24, the second (in August 1969) was on an infant with biliary cirrhosis, using in both instances only half of the donor liver. In the infant the donor liver was obtained from a 6 year old boy.
In New York City he and his wife became ardent collectors of American art and Precolumbian art. In the late seventies he helped start a new school of clinical medicine at the Univ. of Illinois in Urbana/Champaign, before retiring as a professor of surgery, pathology and biochemistry after attending graduation of the third medical school class.
Widely published, he was a member of numerous medial, scientific and art-related societies and a contributor to the medical and scientific literature on a wide range of subjects. Also, he and his wife became substantial donors to a number of medical, educational and philanthropic organizations and major charities that included The Mayo Foundation, The National Wildlife Federation, the World Wild Life Fund, The American College of Surgeons, The University of Minnesota and Florida Atlantic University.
After his retirement he spent summers on Long Island in Brookhaven Hamlet in their vacation home on The Great South Bay and the winters in a beach front apartment in Jensen Beach, Florida. In 1990 they became full time residents at Piper's Landing in Palm City, Florida. Here he worked from its 1995 inception for six years a a surgical consultant at the local Volunteers in Medicine Clinic with Dr. Fred Carter, the clinic's founder. As a writer he wrote "The Holocaust Trilogy" and a book of short stories, "Stories My Mother Never Told Me."
His wife and he operated an art and antique business, A Certain Ambiance, in Illinois, Long Island and Florida (from 1978 to 2009), the latter at 522 Colorado Avenue in Stuart.
Survivors include his wife of more than 59 years, Mary Ann Lunday Gans of Palm City, his beloved Siamese cat LingLing and several nieces and nephews. Memorial contributions may be made to the World Wildlife Fund, Audubon-Florida or The American College of Surgeons (Henry and Mary Ann Gans Scholarship Fund).
Yes we were very lucky.
Mary Ann Lunday Gans
September 22, 1935 - October 22, 2021
Mary Ann Lunday Gans was born in Fargo, ND in 1935 to Dr. John Herald Lunday and Belva Irene Torgerson Lunday. After studying at Concordia College in Moorhead MN, she became a nursing student at the University of Minnesota where she obtained her BS and RN degrees and met her future husband, Dr Henry Gans. Married in 1958, she was an intensive care/private duty nurse for nineteen years. In 1968 she and her husband moved to NYC where she worked as a part time nurse, volunteered at the American Indian Museum, working in the annex in the Bronx inventorying its extensive collections, and became, with her husband, ardent collectors of American and Pre-Columbian Art.
In 1977, after moving to Illinois, where her husband helped start the Medical School on the Champaign/Urbana campus, she opened her first art and antique shop called “A Certain Ambiance”, started a local art and antiques study group, “the Antiquarians”, became a member of the International Society of Appraisers and participated in the Urbana antique shows.
In 1983, upon her husband’s retirement, they moved to their vacation home on Long Island where she continued her antique business, joined the Long Island Antique Dealers Association, and participated in the antique shows in Nassau and Suffolk counties where she also held house/estate sales.
In 1990 she moved to Stuart/Palm City, Florida where she opened her second shop, first north of the Roosevelt Bridge, attended as a dealer the monthly Scott shows in Atlanta, Coconut Grove and the West Palm Beach shows till she moved two years later to her own building on Colorado Avenue in downtown Stuart. Here she bought estates and dealt in art and antiques even after she closed her shop in 2009.
In 2010 she again began to participate in the West Palm Beach show and operated a website on Trocadero.com.
Besides her interest and comprehensive knowledge of art and antiques, and an extensive collector of books on art and antiques, she was an ardent gardener, becoming a Master Gardener of the University of Florida at Gainesville and founded the Master Gardener Lending Library in Stuart.
Survivors include her beloved Siamese cat LingLing and several nieces and nephews. Memorial contributions may be made to the Audubon Florida (Miami, FL), Florida Oceanographic Society (Stuart, FL) or National Wildlife Federation (Reston, VA).
In 1977, after moving to Illinois, where her husband helped start the Medical School on the Champaign/Urbana campus, she opened her first art and antique shop called “A Certain Ambiance”, started a local art and antiques study group, “the Antiquarians”, became a member of the International Society of Appraisers and participated in the Urbana antique shows.
In 1983, upon her husband’s retirement, they moved to their vacation home on Long Island where she continued her antique business, joined the Long Island Antique Dealers Association, and participated in the antique shows in Nassau and Suffolk counties where she also held house/estate sales.
In 1990 she moved to Stuart/Palm City, Florida where she opened her second shop, first north of the Roosevelt Bridge, attended as a dealer the monthly Scott shows in Atlanta, Coconut Grove and the West Palm Beach shows till she moved two years later to her own building on Colorado Avenue in downtown Stuart. Here she bought estates and dealt in art and antiques even after she closed her shop in 2009.
In 2010 she again began to participate in the West Palm Beach show and operated a website on Trocadero.com.
Besides her interest and comprehensive knowledge of art and antiques, and an extensive collector of books on art and antiques, she was an ardent gardener, becoming a Master Gardener of the University of Florida at Gainesville and founded the Master Gardener Lending Library in Stuart.
Survivors include her beloved Siamese cat LingLing and several nieces and nephews. Memorial contributions may be made to the Audubon Florida (Miami, FL), Florida Oceanographic Society (Stuart, FL) or National Wildlife Federation (Reston, VA).
Forest Hills Memorial Park
2001 SW Murphy Rd Palm City, FL 34990
2001 SW Murphy Rd Palm City, FL 34990