Obituary for Univ.-Prof. Dr. med. mult. Jörg Rüdiger Siewert 1940–2024

From the perspective of his colleagues and friends, Jörg Rüdiger Siewert—although active and living in the southern part of Germany for many years—was a true Berliner. He studied in Basel and at the Free University of Berlin, where he obtained his doctorate in 1965. He began his specialist training at the Rudolf Virchow Hospital and moved to the University Medical Center Göttingen in 1969 to work with Hans-Jürgen Peiper, who had just taken over the chair of surgery there. Peiper quickly recognized Siewert’s outstanding abilities and tremendous diligence, and he supported him. This enabled Siewert to start his unparalleled career, obtaining his specialist title in surgery in 1972 and eventually habilitating. In 1982, he accepted the call to full professor of surgery at the Klinikum Rechts der Isar in Munich. As director of the surgical clinic at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) from 1982 to 2007 and as medical director of the hospital from 1987 to 2007, he significantly shaped this institution over two decades and developed the Rechts der Isar into one of the leading German university hospitals. After retiring in Munich, he served as chief medical director of the University Hospital Heidelberg from June 2007 to November 2011. In November 2011, he moved to Freiburg and remained there until 2018 as chief medical director and chairman of the board of the university hospital. …