Hermes C. Grillo, 83, thoracic surgeon at MGH
Hermes C. Grillo, a world-renowned Massachusetts General Hospital thoracic surgeon whose ground-breaking procedures saved countless lives and brought him recognition as "the father of modern-day tracheal surgery," died Oct. 14 of injuries sustained in an automobile accident near Ravenna, Italy. He was 83.
Dr. Grillo and his wife, Charlotte (Robinson) Grillo, the former registrar of Harvard Law School, were in Italy visiting relatives prior to attending a meeting this week of the Italian Association for Thoracic Surgery in Assisi, where Dr. Grillo was to have delivered a paper. His wife, known as Sue, remains hospitalized.
Dr. Grillo, chief of thoracic surgery at MGH from 1969 to 1994, was known for saving lives of patients considered beyond help by other physicians. "People came to Hermes at death's door," said Dr. Douglas Mathisen, who succeeded Dr. Grillo as chief of thoracic surgery. "People were flown here from all over, some attached to tubes, to be treated by him."
"Hermes developed numerous operations to correct many of the disorders of the tracheobronchial tree," Mathiesen added in an e-mail. "Many of these conditions were considered to be technically not feasible prior to his pioneering efforts in this field. "
In 2004, Dr. Grillo's definitive textbook, "Surgery of the Trachea and Bronchi," was published. And he has published more than 350 scientific articles.
His patients have come from around the world. In its 1994 annual report, MGH reported how Dr. Grillo had saved the life of 12-year-old Rebecca Mitchell of Leicester, England, who was "literally being strangled by her own body." She had been born with several abnormalities in the large blood vessels carrying blood away from her heart.
"As she grew," the report said, "so did her blood vessels, and they began putting more and more pressure on her trachea. Soon the constriction would cut off her air supply altogether. British surgeons had operated on her three times and then had put a silicon tube in her trachea to keep it open, but it was only a temporary solution. Her best chance, they told her family, was to seek help from Hermes Grillo, an international leader in tracheal surgery."
Dr. Grillo and a colleague performed a 12-hour surgery on Rebecca that "essentially rerouted the vessels" and expanded her airway "to almost normal size." The girl returned to England, where she "roller skates, plays tennis, and rides horses."
There were many other patients whose lives Dr. Grillo saved. His daughter, Amy, said that whenever she meets strangers who connected her name with his, "They pull up their shirts to show off the scar where he operated."
Dr. Grillo attributed much of his innovative surgery "to his artistic mind and his ability to look at the whole picture," said his son, H. Conrad Grillo Jr. of Wells, Vt. "He approached his work as an artist."
Dr. Grillo's daughter, Amy Grillo Angell of Dummerston, Vt., also recalled finding her father "using my modeling clay" to plot out a tracheal reconstruction, with the same loving care he made his children's wooden toys.
Hermes Conrad Grillo was born in Boston to Giacomo and Rose (Segal) Grillo. Dr. Grillo and his older brother, Elmer, grew up in Providence during the Great Depression. Their father was an active member of the Italian-American community , a Dante scholar involved with Italian-language newspapers.
Dr. Grillo went to Classical High School in Providence, where four years of Latin was required. In an oral history he gave to the University of Tennessee in 2002, he said his desire to become a doctor "began in high school," and that the only other career that interested him was architecture. After graduating from Classical High, Dr. Grillo and his brother entered Brown University as commuter students, and Dr. Grillo majored in chemistry.
He graduated from Brown summa cum laude in 1943. The family moved to Medford, and Giacomo Grillo took a job as editor for an Italian language newspaper in the Boston area. Dr. Grillo entered Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Robert W. Hopkins of Milton was a classmate of Dr. Grillo at Harvard and remained a close friend. "We both became interns in surgery at MGH in 1947 and 1948 and residents from 1948 to 1951," Hopkins said. "In 1951, during the Korean War, Hermes joined the Navy and spent about six months in Korea with a Marine medical unit about 5 miles behind enemy lines. He received a commendation ribbon with a Combat V."
Dr. Grillo remained in the Navy for the next year-and-a-half, Hopkins said, on the thoracic surgical service at the US Navy Hospital in St. Alban's, N.Y., where he settled on becoming a thoracic surgeon. After his naval service, Dr. Grillo returned to MGH to continue his residency, which he completed in 1955 and became a member of the thoracic surgery staff. He was chief of the service from 1969 to 1994, when he was named chief emeritus. Mathisen said Dr. Grillo retired from the clinical practice of surgery in 2000, but continued to go to the hospital until his death. He had been professor emeritus of surgery at Harvard Medical School since 2000.
Dr. Grillo, whose first marriage ended in divorce, married Charlotte Robinson in the early 1990s. Together, they traveled widely to such places as Timbuktu and the Galapagos Islands.
In addition to his wife, his son, and his daughter, Dr. Grillo leaves two other daughters, Andrea Massar of Fort Langley, British Columbia, and Paula Shalan of West Stockbridge; his former wife, Dorothy (Whittier) Grillo of Wells, Vt.; and nine grandchildren.
His daughter, Amy, said Dr. Grillo's ashes will remain in Italy. The time and place for a memorial service have not been set.
