Hans Georg Knauff

Hans-Georg was born in Bad Hersfeld, Germany, on July 8, 1927. His parents were textile and clothing merchants. During his adolescence, Hans-Georg enjoyed spending time outdoors and hunting ducks and other game with his father Friedrich Knauff. At the age of 16, he was drafted into the German army and spent time with an aircraft-defense unit. At the age of 17, he became a British prisoner of war and was detained for several months in a prisoner of war camp in Denmark, before being released at the end of World War II. After the war, he finished his high-school studies, then studied medicine at the Universities of Erlangen, Freiburg, Basel and Heidelberg, where he obtained his doctorate of medicine in 1953. He spent a year as a postdoc in the pharmacology department of the Royal College of Surgeons in London, and then joined the medical clinic of the University of Munich as a senior lecturer in 1955.

It was here that he met his future wife, Sigrid Keppner. They were married in 1956 at the Münster in Ulm, and moved to Pullach, on the outskirts of Munich. Their first daughter Ursula was born here in 1957. In 1961, Hans-Georg joined the department of internal medicine at the University of Marburg, and the family moved first to Dagobertshausen, and then to the city of Marburg itself. Their second daughter Barbara was born in 1965. In 1967, Hans-Georg was promoted to Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Marburg, a position which he held until his early retirement in 1985. One of Hans-Georg’s areas of expertise were tropical diseases, and a notable event in his medical career was the outbreak of the “Marburg virus”, one of the first Ebola-like viruses, which was introduced through laboratory animals in 1967.

In 1986, Hans-Georg moved to West Vancouver with Sigrid, to enjoy his retirement years in the Canadian West. He very much enjoyed the natural beauty of western Canada, its mountains and fjords, and made local hikes and nature walks a part of his life. Even at the age of 91 he would still take almost daily hikes through Woodward Park, with his trusty Leki trekking pole. He was also very active in his local community of faith, the Lutheran St. Mark’s church.

One of the things Hans-Georg enjoyed most was traveling with his wife Sigrid. They completed two extensive trips through the Western USA, Canada and Alaska in the 1970s, and also traveled through Latin America. Their rental vehicles were returned with several windshield chips (Alaskan highway, still unpaved) and even bullet holes (Guatemala in the early 80s). In 1981 they embarked on a 6-week world tour to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary. From West Vancouver, they explored the Western USA and British Columbia, and also returned for many trips to Europe and locales as far away as New Zealand. Maui was also a favorite and regular destination as an escape from Vancouver’s relentless winter rains.

His last two years were spent at Amica Lions Gate in West Vancouver, where he and Sigrid shared a small suite, and were cared for by an exceptional team of caregivers.

Hans-Georg was predeceased by his younger siblings Gottfried and Esther. He is survived by his wife of 67 years, Sigrid (née Keppner); his daughter Ursula von Wrangel with son-in-law Thomas von Wrangel (Hemmingen, Germany); his daughter Barbara Knauff with daughter-in-law Tara Bamford (Thetford, VT, USA); his grandchildren Johanna Kienitz (Hannover, Germany), Christof von Wrangel (Berlin, Germany), Konstanze von Wrangel (Bochum, Germany), Maja von Wrangel (Dortmund, Germany), Moritz von Wrangel and wife Malina (Hannover, Germany), and Juliane von Wrangel (Hannover, Germany); as well as one great-grandson, Atlas (Hannover, Germany).