Heart surgery pioneer Christiaan Barnard dies

DURBAN - Christiaan Barnard, the pioneering South African surgeon who performed the world's first-ever heart transplant in 1967, has died in Cyprus.

Dr Barnard, 78, was reported to have suffered a fatal asthma attack after going for a swim in the pool of a hotel in Paphos where he was staying.

"However I meet my death, I hope I don't see it coming," he had said earlier this year. His agent, Walter Lutsehinger, said Dr Barnard always feared dying of an asthma attack.

"Always, his biggest fear was that he would die like that," Mr Lutsehinger said.

Dr Barnard, born in the small town of Beaufort West, in the northern Cape, the son of an impoverished Calvinist missionary, had led a life as colourful as it was celebrated.

His performing of the world's first heart transplant in 1967 thrust him into a limelight so bright that the Guinness Book of Records once estimated that he received more fan mail than anyone else.

Dr Barnard's longest-surviving patient, Dirk van Zyl, lived with an implanted heart for 23 years before dying in 1996 of diabetes, which was unrelated to his heart condition.

Dr Barnard was famed for his jet-set lifestyle, friendships with Peter Sellers and Richard Burton, parties hosted by King Hussein of Jordan and dalliances with beauties such as Sophia Loren and Gina Lollobrigida.

He married and divorced three times – with his most recent marriage to Karin Setzkorn, a model 41 years his junior – ending two years go. He had six children, the youngest of which, Lara, is now three. He lost his oldest son, Andre, also a doctor, to suicide in 1984.

On retiring, he fulfilled a lifelong dream by buying a farm in the area where he was born. He farmed sheep and ploughed the profits into a game reserve where more than 32 species of animals were kept, several of which were endangered.

Though Dr Barnard lived in Vienna, he travelled the world, lecturing and writing books.

Southern Cyprus, where he died yesterday, was one of his favourite parts of the world. He enjoyed dual nationality after being offered citizenship by the Greek government.

It was a country, he insisted, that had one of the healthiest lifestyles because of its relaxed pace of life, sunshine, food and wine.

Despite suffering from rheumatoid arthritis and having a brush with skin cancer a few years ago, Dr Barnard continued to lead an active life, launching his book 50 Ways to a Healthy Heart only a few months ago.

- INDEPENDENT