In Memoriam

"Dr. Liss founded the group that has become Atlantic Neurosurgical Specialists in 1958. Throughout his long illness, he was always a presence here at ANS. His wisdom saw us through difficult times. We will ALL miss him." –Edward J. Zampella, MD, FACS

Dr. Henry Liss, MD, FACS, 81
A Pioneer in Neurosurgery

SUMMIT, NJ – Henry R. Liss, M.D., a renowned neurosurgeon, founding partner of The Neurosurgical Group of Chatham / Atlantic Neurosurgical Specialists has died. He was 81.

Dr. Liss died Sunday, October 29 at the Bangkok Heart Hospital in Bangkok, Thailand, where he had traveled to undergo an innovative stem cell procedure to treat his chronic heart condition. Upon his arrival, physicians at Bangkok Heart Hospital did not feel Dr. Liss was well enough to go forward with the procedure; and he succumbed to complications.

Dr. Liss was born and raised in the Forest Hill Section of Newark, where his father owned several drug stores and was a teacher at the New Jersey College of Pharmacy.

He attended Williston Academy, East Hampton, MA and Harvard University, but left the Ivy league institution at age 18 to join the Navy. In July 1943, Dr. Liss became a corpsman assigned to the Philadelphia Naval Hospital, where he served as a nurse on a 30-bed oncology unit and assisted an orthopedic surgeon and a neurosurgeon in the operating room.

During his naval enlistment, Dr. Liss took mail-order courses from the University of Wisconsin. Two physicians with whom he worked during that period suggested that the young student attend medical school. In October of 1944, he entered Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. He graduated from medical school in 1948 at age 22 and completed a surgical residency at Philadelphia General Hospital.

Dr. Liss recalled his early days as a resident, “In those days, residents didn’t want to do neurosurgery. They felt it was too slow, and you stood on your feet for 10-12 hours. Nearly fifty percent of the patients died.”

In 1950, Dr. Liss was accepted for a residency at the Mayo Clinic and served under Rear Admiral W. Craig in the Navy Reserve, who advised him, “If you want to learn neurosurgery, you won’t learn it here. You’ll only open and close. In the Navy, you’ll have the opportunity to do what you’re capable of.”

In 1951, Dr. Liss became a Lt. j.g., and within months was sent to Korea as a neurosurgeon for the First Marine Division. He served at the AH 15 MASH Unit on board the USS Consolation, the first hospital ship with an EEG machine and helicopter deck.
Following his duty in Korea, Dr. Liss entered a residency program at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital in New York City, where he participated in a long-term government study of the effects of head trauma during the Korean War. From 1953 to 1958, he visited several naval hospitals around the country and saw 500 patients from the Korean War and civilian accidents. Many of the patients he evaluated were the same patients on which he had operated while serving in Korea.

In 1958, the young neurosurgeon headed to New Jersey, where he joined Overlook Hospital in Summit and founded the Neurosurgical Group of Chatham. He achieved his board certification in neurosurgery in 1961, and spent the rest of his career pioneering advances in neurosurgery and neuroscience.

He was appointed senior vice president of medical affairs at Overlook in 1988, and served in that capacity for 10 years before retiring. In 1993, Overlook opened the Henry R. Liss Neuroscience Center in his honor.

Dr. Liss served on the clinical faculty at Columbia University and Rutgers University Medical School. He was also a Clinical Professor Emeritus at Columbia University.

His loyalty to his alma mater, prompted him to establish the Amy and Henry Liss Scholarship Fund at Jefferson Medical College in 2004. He served on the board of the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation, and volunteered his time with several state committees on spinal cord injury. His interest in stem cells for spinal cord injuries combined with his love for travel led Dr. Liss to explore stem cell treatment in Thailand for his own heart condition.

Following his retirement Dr. Liss donated his time and medical expertise to the Dover Community Clinic recruiting other physicians from Overlook’s medical staff to join in the effort of providing basic medicine to the uninsured

Looking back on his long career, Dr. Liss once commented, “During my lifetime, I have been privileged to witness tremendous advances in the field of neuroscience. Procedures to open the head that once required burr holes and gigli saws can now be done with nitro-driven instruments in a few minutes.”

Dr. Liss is survived by his loving wife, Amy, of 52 years; his brother, George, of Port St. Lucie, FL; two sons, David and his wife, Cynthia, of McLean, VA; and Fred and his wife, Stephanie, of Montclair, NJ.

In his memory, donations to neuroscience may be made to the Overlook Hospital Foundation, PO Box 220, Summit. NJ, 07902-0220 or Williston Northampton School.