Community mourns prominent surgeon's death

A prominent Sudbury cardiac surgeon and central figure in the city's Hindu community passed away on Oct. 6.

Health Sciences North has described Dr. Avdhesh Mathur as a medical pioneer and “trailblazer in the field of cardiac care.”

In 1991, Mathur performed the first beating heart off-pump coronary bypass surgery in Canada, in which the heart is stopped and the patient’s body is put on a heart-lung bypass machine while the surgeons perform the procedure.

“Dr. Mathur is one of the people who put Sudbury’s cardiac surgical program on the map in Canada,” said Dr. Chris Bourdon, Health Sciences North’s chief of staff and vice-president of medical and academic affairs, in a press release.

“He was well-respected by his patients and colleagues and the reason HSN has such a fantastic cardiac surgical program is because of the trailblazing work done by Dr. Mathur.”

In addition to his professional accomplishments, Mathur helped found Sudbury's Hindu temple, the Sudbury Prarthana Samaj.

He was an avid fisherman and duck hunter and enjoyed his many journeys with his family and friends on the French River and at his cottage on the Georgian Bay.

But most of all, according to his obituary, he was dedicated to his family.

He and his wife Denise had three children and two grandchildren.

Flags at the Ramsey Lake Health Centre have been lowered to half-mast in Mathur’s honour.