Dr. Robert Schramel, N.O. heart surgeon Submitted by N.O.V.A. July 2006 Times Picayune 07-23-2006 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ************************************************ Dr. Robert Joseph Schramel, a well-known cardiovascular surgeon who was among the group of physicians who performed the first open heart surgeries in New Orleans, died July 12 at his home. He was 81. Dr. Schramel was born in St. Louis, Mo., and had lived in New Orleans since the early 1940s. He graduated from Tulane University School of Medicine and trained in cardiovascular surgery at Ochsner Foundation Hospital, Tulane and the National Institutes of Health. He published more than 40 scientific and professional articles during his career. He was a Navy veteran of the Korean War. Dr. Schramel was a former director of medical education and chief of surgery at Hotel Dieu, a professor of surgery at Tulane Medical School and a member of the Governor's Commission on Medical Manpower. He also was an accomplished classical and jazz pianist, having played with the Tulanians and at the Absinthe House with Walter 'Fats' Pichon. Survivors include his wife, Marie-Louise Schramel; four sons, Christopher, Robert, Michael and Gregory Schramel; a daughter, Lisa Schramel Knickerbocker; a brother, Thomas Schramel; a sister, Miriam Schramel Moloney; and eight grandchildren. A Mass will be said Tuesday at 11 a.m. at Mater Dolorosa Catholic Church, 1200 S. Carrollton Ave. Visitation will begin at 10 a.m.