Allan Lansing, MD, PhD, a pioneer in heart surgery and founder of Louisville, Ky.-based Bellarmine University's school of nursing, died on July 17 at 92, the Courier Journal reported July 20.
"I'm not the best heart surgeon in the world," Dr. Lansing told a Courier Journal reporter in 1985, "but I do think I am probably the best in this region."
Dr. Lansing performed the first kidney transplant in Kentucky and the first coronary artery bypass, as well as authoring more than 132 papers. He and his wife, Donna, founded Bellarmine's School of Nursing and Clinical Sciences in 1982.
"He gave his heart to those who needed compassion, along with a hand to hold and an ear to listen," his family wrote in his obituary. "He lived his life with grace, compassion, selflessness and love."