Vincent L Gott

I had the honor and pleasure of working with Vince beginning in 1982 when Bruce Reitz and I arrived at Johns Hopkins. For those of you who didn't know him, Vince was an incredible person, innovator, surgeon and teacher, mentor and great friend.

Some of Dr. Gott's accomplishments over his tenure as a cardiac surgeon included designing the first bi-leaflet aortic valve; as published in the journal Science, he demonstrated that pyrolytic carbon was resistant to thrombus (virtually every current prosthetic valve is made from pyrolytic carbon); he developed a shunt that was used, prior to the application of the heart-lung machine, for repair of thoracic aneurysms; he co-developed the first pacemaker with the eventual founder of Medtronic while at the University of Minnesota. When Dr. Mirowski sought out Dr. Gott to work with him on the clinical application of the first defibrillator, Dr. Gott, in his humble and gracious manner, asked Dr. Levi Watkins to take the lead. Dr. Watkins performed the first implantation of the defibrillator which helped Levi catapult his career.

As a clinical cardiac surgeon, he pioneered the Bentall procedure in the United States. He had the largest experience with this aortic root procedure with minimal mortality and morbidity. He became internationally recognized for this work which signed a bright light on Johns Hopkins.

Vince was a man for all seasons-for example he used to bike to work from Guilford; rock climb; sail and paint. Vince was quite the artist in addition to all his other talents. Vince was also a wonderful husband, dad and grandfather.

For me though, Vince was a wonderful mentor. He was a genuine human being who had respect for everyone at the hospital. His only curse words were "Gosh Golly!". He was loved by everyone.

Vince is survived by his wife of 66 years, Iveagh, and his three children, Deborah (Robert), Kevin (Donna) and Cameron (Kristi), and five grandchildren, Guy, Elise, Annie, Kellan and Katherine.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be given to the Vincent L. Gott, MD Professorship.

Checks payable to: Johns Hopkins Medicine

Memo line: Vincent L. Gott, MD Professorship

Mailing Address:

Johns Hopkins Heart and Vascular Institute

Development Office/Attention:Lisa Hammann

600 N. Wolfe Street, Blalock 536

Baltimore, MD 21218