Max R. Gaspar, MD
Maximillian Raymond Gaspar was born in Kingsley, Iowa. He grew up in nearby Sioux City and attended Morningside College where he graduated in 1936. He entered medical school at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, but transferred to the University of Southern California and it’s primary teaching facility the Los Angeles County Hopsital when his father relocated the family to Los Angeles in 1938. Dr. Gaspar received his M.D. from the University of Southern California in 1940. Following graduation, he remained at Los Angeles County Hospital for a rotating internship and General Surgery Residency. However, his surgical training was interrupted by World War II when he was required him to split time between the Los Angeles County Hospital, the Naval Hospital in San Diego and the U.S.S. Kankakee in the Pacific. He ultimately finished his surgical residency in 1948 and received certification as a Diplomate of the American Board of Surgery in 1949.
As a practicing surgeon, Dr. Gaspar and his long time partner Herbert J. (Chop) Movius, MD established an active and highly visible surgical practice in Long Beach, California. Their partnership, surgical expertise and mutual interest in peripheral vascular surgery resulted in the first peripheral vascular fellowship in the United States. The first fellow was Dr. L. Dean Gibson who was followed over the ensuing years by more than 60 vascular fellows.
Dr. Gaspar was a Clincial Professor of Surgery at the University of Southern California for over three decades. He served as Chief of Vascular Surgery at Los Angeles County+University of Southern California Medical Center for 25 years where he along with voluntary faculty and surgical residents cared for patients with vascular disorders. Weekly teaching rounds with Dr. Gaspar, where successful case management, patient selection and indications for specific vascular procedures, prudent judgment, and surgical technique were discussed, attracted surgeons from all over the Los Angeles area. In this weekly forum, Dr. Gaspar greatly influenced the quality of surgical care in Los Angeles and a generation of surgeons in training.
As a pioneer in vascular surgery, Dr. Gaspar helped to formulate and articulate the principles of surgical care for patients with vascular injuries, aortic aneurysms and carotid artery disease as well as many other vascular disorders. He authored a textbook, fourteen book chapters, and 75 articles during his influential career. As a leader in surgery, he was president of the Pacific Coast Surgical Association and Society of Graduate Surgeons, Governor of the American College of Surgeons (1962-1971), a founding member of the Southern California Vascular Surgical Society, and a member of the American Surgical Association and Society of Vascular Surgery as well as many other national and regional surgical organizations.
Despite the demands of a surgical career, Dr. Gaspar has always been a devoted family man. His life has been blessed with two wonderful wives. He married his high school sweetheart Gee Gee Hunter in 1948 and together they had five children. After a long illness, Gee Gee passed away. In 1969, he married Lia Krempels who is his constant companion and confidant.
Dr. Gaspar was a pioneer in the discipline of vascular surgery whose positive cannot be overestimated. As a confident teacher, mentor, superb surgeon and leader, he shaped the attitudes and practices of many vascular surgeons. It was with these thoughts in mind that former fellows, residents and colleagues contributed generously to establish this annual lectureship in his name.
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