Victor Warren Fazio

Victor Warren Fazio AO FRACS, FRACS (HON)
General Surgeon
2 February 1940 - 7 July 2015

Victor Warren Fazio was born in 1940 to Victor, a fisherman, and Kathleen Fazio and grew up in Tuncurry in the Central Coast of New South Wales. His secondary school education was at St Joseph's College, Hunter's Hill, in Sydney. He won a NSW Railways Scholarship in 1954 and attended Sydney University on a Commonwealth Scholarship. Coming from the country he was supported by Legacy and during term resided in the Glen Mervyn Legacy Hostel in Randwick. He graduated MB BS in 1965 and did his residency at St Vincent's Hospital in Darlinghurst. He did his surgical training at St Vincent's Hospital and obtained the Fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons in 1971. He served with the Australian Surgical Team in Vietnam in 1971. He played junior rugby league in the Eastern Suburbs competition and rugby for Sydney University.

He went to the United States in 1972 initially as a Hepatobiliary Fellow with Dr Ken Warren at the Lahey Clinic in Boston and the following year Fellow in Colon and Rectal Surgery with Dr Rupert Turnbull in the Department of Colon and Rectal Surgery at the Cleveland Clinic. In 1996 the Clinic appointed him to the Rupert B. Turnbull Chair in Colorectal Surgery. He was Board Certified in colon and rectal surgery,

Dr Fazio was Chairman of the Department of Colorectal Surgery and Vice-Chairman of the Division of Surgery at the Cleveland Clinic for over 25 years. He received numerous awards from the Cleveland Clinic. In 2000 he was awarded the first Cleveland Clinic Master Clinicians Award from 1500 Clinic physicians. In 2002 he was first to receive the Clinics highest honour, the Al and Norma Lerner Humanitarian Award, created 'to honour the physician whose selfless dedication, boundless compassion, and tireless work has made the most profound and singular contribution. The recipient personifies the highest values of the medical profession.' In 2005 he was awarded the Distinguished Alumnus Award by the Cleveland Clinic Alumni Association.

Dr Fazio was recognised for his contributions in the United States receiving the Premier Physician Award from the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation in 1992. He was recognised one of the best doctors in America by American Health Magazine and one of the foremost cancer doctors in Good Housekeeping. He was inducted into Cleveland's Medical Hall of Fame in 2002. In 2014 he received the Physician of the Year award for lifetime achievement in the USA.

He was recognised in his country of birth with the award of the Officer in the Order of Australia in 2004 and in 1997an honorary Master of Surgery degree from the University of Sydney. He is one of only three Fellows of the Royal Australian College of Surgeons in its 80 year history who have been conferred with an Honorary Fellowship when they already had a Fellowship by examination. He was awarded honorary Fellowships of the Royal College of Surgeons of England and Edinburgh. In 2007 he was inducted into the European Surgical Association.

Vic Fazio has contributed widely to academia with clinical interests in inflammatory bowel disease, colorectal cancer and pelvic floor reservoir procedures to avoid the need for colostomies. He was a popular guest lecturer at national and international meetings. At the time of his death he was principal investigator for an international multi-centre clinical trial of colonic pelvic reservoirs following resection of rectal cancers. He had over 500 scientific publications and had contributed to 13 books.

Dr Fazio served on the editorial boards or as a reviewer of over 40 surgical journals including Archives of Surgery, the British Journal of Surgery and the New England Journal of Medicine. For 18 years he was Editor-in-Chief of the journal Diseases of the Colon and Rectum. He served terms as President of the American Board of Colon and Rectal Surgery, the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons and The Society of Pelvic Surgeons.

His long time colleague, Dr James M. Church, holder of the Victor W. Fazio Chair in Colorectal Surgery at the Cleveland Clinic describes him:

'His knowledge is astronomical, his clinical acumen sharp and well honed, his surgical skills are without peer… fostering loyalty and camaraderie by his own example. His personality is magnetic and charming in a rough Australian "G'day mate" type of way'.

He had an uncanny ability to put strangers at ease and make them feel included. As a Chairman, his door was always open, his loyalty was always dependable.'

Vic is survived by his devoted and supportive wife Carolyn, his children Victor W. III, Jane and David and six grandchildren.

Maxwell J Coleman FRACS