03 Feb Obituary Kob Wintsch
October 13, 1931 – February 3, 2025
Kob Wintsch was born to Swiss parents on October 13, 1931, on the island of Borneo in the then Dutch colony of Indonesia. His father’s job as a surveying engineer for the Dutch Shell company meant frequent relocations; the family also lived temporarily on Sumatra and Java. The Japanese occupation during World War II led to internment in the mountains of Java, where, after six years of Dutch schooling, he was able to attend an improvised school run by Swiss academics. After the Japanese surrender, the family returned to Switzerland. In Zurich, Kob completed the rest of his schooling and his medical studies, which he finalized with the state examination in 1957. During his studies, he met his future wife, Lena. They married in 1958 and had two daughters and a son between 1960 and 1962.
His specialist training began in 1960 at the Surgical Clinic of the Cantonal Hospital of Zurich under Prof. Brunner and, after the clinic was divided, continued at the Trauma Surgery Clinic B under Prof. Buff. A one-year stint at the Surgical Clinic A under Prof. Sennig completed his training, earning him the FMH (Federal Medical Doctor of Medicine) title in surgery in 1966.
Kob Wintsch received additional plastic surgery training from 1963 onwards under Dr. Clodius and Dr. Köchlin, who introduced him to hand surgery. From January 1966 to July 1967, he was the director of a plastic surgery reconstructive center for leprosy patients in Mangalore, India. Immediately after its introduction in 1970, he acquired the additional qualification in plastic and reconstructive surgery, which was upgraded to a full specialist title in 1975. He felt increasingly connected to plastic and reconstructive surgery and, in March 1971, accepted the position of senior physician for this field at the Aarau Cantonal Hospital, although he was briefly senior physician of surgery at Surgical Clinic B in Zurich. In Aarau, he initially worked in the surgical clinic under Prof. Deucher until the actual clinic for plastic and reconstructive surgery and hand surgery was established in 1976. He held the position of chief physician until his retirement in August 1996. He then continued to work in the group practice Praxis BelCare until April 2001.
His special interests, which included microsurgery early on, were reflected in 39 publications, including the book “Ersatzoperationen für Motorik und Sensibilität an der Hand” (Replacement Operations for Motor Skills and Sensibility in the Hand) and the highly acclaimed work “Free Flap of Gliding Tissue” (Journal of Reconstructive Microsurgery 1986; 2: 143-150) with Parwis Helaly. Also worthy of mention is the 1970 “Honorable Mention Award” from the American Society for Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery for his work on nerve lengthening in finger reconstructions.
Kob Wintsch joined the German-speaking Working Group for Hand Surgery early on and was a founding member of the German-speaking Working Group for Microsurgery of Peripheral Nerves and Vessels (DAM). In 1977, he chaired the congress of the Swiss Society of Plastic Surgery as president and the DAM congress in 1982.
Kob was a member of EURAPS from the first meeting in Strasbourg in 1990 and became the 1991/92 president of the Association. Together with his brother he was for many years a member of the Alpine Workshop. At all conferences and outings, the jokes that Kob could tell in his inimitable, straight-faced manner were one of the highlights of the social part.
He sought and found private relaxation in his family, in art and in extended travels, which, whenever possible, included diving and snorkeling, or fishing.
Kob Wintsch passed away on February 3, 2025 at 93 years of age.