Henry Heimlich, doctor who invented lifesaving anti-choking procedure, dies at 96
by Steve Chawkins
When he was a 21-year-old camp counselor, Henry Heimlich saved a life and had his first brush with fame.
On the way back to New York City from Massachusetts at summer’s end, his quick thinking in a train wreck helped save a critically wounded crew member. It also landed the handsome medical student on the front page of the New York Times. A month later, the Greater New York Safety Council gave him a gold watch.
Never one to shy away from the limelight, Heimlich would go on to a level of fame — and controversy — that astonished even him.
Heimlich, a thoracic surgeon who developed the lifesaving Heimlich maneuver after experimenting on anesthetized beagles, died Saturday in Cincinnati, his family said. He was 96.