In Memoriam: Gary Burget, MD (1941-2017)

Facial plastic surgery recently lost a dear friend, teacher, and colleague on May 31, 2017, with the passing of Gary Burget, MD. Dr Burget was born in Toledo, Ohio, on April 20, 1941, the second child of Dean E. and Marie A. Burget. His parents were schoolteachers who had grown up on small working farms in southern Ohio near West Virginia near the Appalachian foothills. His parents obtained schoolteaching jobs in the Toledo, Ohio, public school system after graduating from Bowling Green State University at the height of the Great Depression. Dr Burget attended Thomas A. DeVilbiss High School and served as president of the student council his senior year. He attended Yale University and graduated with a BA in English and then followed his older brother, Dean, to Yale Medical School, which he completed in 1967. During his fourth year of medical school, he arranged a surgical clerkship in Edinburgh, Scotland, under the direction of Andrew Logan, MD, which increased his interest in surgery. Following medical school, he pursued an internship at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City and spent much of his time at Harlem Hospital. He then went to Jackson Memorial Hospital at the University of Miami as a resident in general surgery, followed by a residency in plastic surgery under D. Ralph Millard, Jr, MD. He was influenced by his older brother, Dean, who preceded him into a career in plastic surgery. Following completion of his plastic surgery residency, he was invited to join Dr Millard as an associate partner in his private practice. While honored, Dr Burget decided to enter private practice with Walter Garst, MD. After several years, Dr Burget struck out on his own and opened a practice in Miami. Henry W. Menn, MD, an early Mohs surgeon, referred a large number of patients with difficult facial defects to Dr Burget. It was during these years that Dr Burget realized the importance of the aesthetic units of the face and the need to sometimes remove additional tissue to move scars into favorable positions.