A. Richard Pschirrer Jr., MD, 81, died from complications related to Alzheimer's disease Feb. 12, the Sentinel Source reports.
Dr. Pschirrer Jr. opened Temple Surgical Center in New Haven, Conn., in 1978. The ASC was one of the first in the U.S. and the first center east of the Mississippi.
Before doing that, he earned a medical degree from New Haven, Conn.-based Yale University, where he also completed an internship and residency in general surgery. He was then drafted into the U.S. Army Medical Corps., to serve as a surgeon. He was stationed at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y.
After serving, he returned to Yale for an anesthesiology residency, before joining Yale-New Haven Hospital's staff in 1969. He rose through the ranks, becoming director of anesthesia in the hospital's private sector, before leaving in 1978 to open the aforementioned Temple Surgical Center.
Dr. Pschirrer Jr. was a past president of the Connecticut Society of Anesthesiologists and a past American Association of Anesthesiologists delegate.
Outside of his practice, he loved the outdoors, in particular, canoeing and hiking. He formed two informal social clubs dedicated to both, the "Canoe Club" and the "Where The Hell is the Trail?" Hiking Club.
Dr. Pschirrer Jr. is survived by his wife, his three children and several grandchildren.
The family asks contributions be made in his name to the Yale University School of Medicine Scholarship Program, St. John's Church, Walpole or the Bridge Library of Walpole.