In memoriam: Prof Ulrich Holz, MD, 1940–2021

The AO community remembers one of its Senior Trustees—a brilliant trauma surgeon and dedicated educator.

Born on October 26, 1940, in Heidenheim an der Brenz, Holz grew up with three siblings and his mother, a war widow.

After attending elementary school and high school in Heidenheim, Holz studied medicine in Tübingen, Vienna, and Freiburg/Breisgau. In 1967 he received his doctorate from the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg/Breisgau, and in 1974 qualified as a surgeon after training in Lüneburg, Stuttgart, and Tübingen. He began to specialize in trauma surgery in 1975. In the same year, Holz started working at the BG-Unfallklinik in Tübingen under S Weller. He qualified to teach in 1979 at the Eberhard-Karls-Universität, Tübingen, and was appointed associate professor there in 1985.

From 1982 to 2006, Holz was medical director of the Clinic for Trauma and Reconstructive Surgery at the Center for Surgery, Katharinenhospital, Stuttgart.

As a member of the German section of the AO, Holz worked as an international speaker for what was then AO International, speaking primarily in India but also Asia and eventually the Middle East. Considered a "Great Friend of India", it was clear to anyone accompanying him that he had achieved cult status there.