Dr. Peter Safar, creator of 'ABCs of CPR,' dies

PITTSBURGH — Dr. Peter Safar, a pioneer in emergency medicine who also was regarded as the father of cardiopulmonary resuscitation, died Sunday evening of cancer. He was 79.

Dr. Safar, who died at his home in suburban Pittsburgh, was credited with establishing the country's first physician-staffed, multidisciplinary intensive-care unit. He also developed the "ABCs of CPR," a lifesaving technique taught to everyone from surgeons to Boy Scouts.

"This was really a loss for mankind," said Dr. Patrick Kochanek, the director of the Safar Center for Resuscitation Research at the University of Pittsburgh.

Dr. Safar established the first intensive-care unit in 1958 at Baltimore City Hospital, Kochanek said. There already were such units for specific ailments, but Dr. Safar established the modern ICU that most people are familiar with today, he said.

Also in the 1950s, Dr. Safar developed a method of mouth-to-mouth resuscitation that he combined with chest compression, a rescue technique that had already been researched and documented by others. The result was a first-aid method that many people learn using a mannequin known as a Resusci-Anne doll.

"He was a firm believer that it was something that the masses needed to learn," Kochanek said.

Dr. Safar's work with CPR was just one aspect of his goal of creating a system of care from accident scene to operating room.

"He wanted prepare the people who show up at an accident scene first — the passer-by — so they can sustain a victim until a paramedic arrives. And then, the paramedic cares for the patient until they reach the emergency room and so on," said Frank Poliafico, the executive director of the AED Instructor Foundation, a group that helps those who teach CPR and automatic external defibrillator use.

He also established guidelines for ambulance design and emergency medical technician and paramedic training.

Born in 1924 in Vienna, Austria, Dr. Safar studied at the University of Vienna and Yale University before studying anesthesiology at the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Safar stepped down as chairman of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's anesthesiology department in 1979 and went on to establish the International Resuscitation Research Center, which he ran until 1994. It later became the Safar Center for Resuscitation Research.

Safar is survived by his wife, Eva, and two sons.