Ralph Ger

He had a distinguished career as a surgeon on the faculty of the University of Cape Town but was forced to leave because of his active support of the anti-apartheid movement, arriving in New York in 1966, and becoming a resident of Great Neck, New York.

Dr. Ger was a professor of Anatomy and Structural Biology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, where his Anatomy course became popular for generations of medical students who admired both his erudition and his dry sense of humor. He also served as Chairman Emeritus, Dept of Surgery at Winthrop University Hospital in Mineola, NY and Associate Chairman, Dept. of Surgery at Nassau County Medical Center on Long Island. In addition, he served as a founding member and officer of the American Association of Clinical Anatomists (AACA), authored a widely used anatomy textbook “Essentials of Clinical Anatomy”, and developed many surgical devices and procedures to assist in the treatment of hernias and prune belly syndrome.

He is survived by his beloved wife Dorrit and loving children Amanda and Jerry Gitlitz, Michael and David, Kevin, grandchildren Jason, Andrew and Alexa and sister Zelda Lowenberg. Funeral services will be held on Thursday, April 12, 2012 at 11AM at the Riverside-Nassau North Chapel,55 North Station Plaza(opposite LIRR) Great Neck, NY. Interment to follow at Beth Moses Cemetery, Pinelawn, New York.