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| Lyal G. Leibrock, MD |
We will miss him, with his unfeigned modesty, his too little acknowledged distinction, and his understated leadership. He devoted his life to his profession, even to this bitter and untimely end.
He was instrumental in bringing the Council of State Neurosurgical Societies to the position of influence and respectability in neurosurgery that it now enjoys. His guidance and enthusiasm are unmatchable and irreplaceable.
He worked until his will no longer trumped his illness, enduring his trial without complaint. This expected news brings unaccustomed sorrow. We see death often, but rarely does it touch our lives so deeply. We mourn his passing.
Dr. Leibrock died Sunday, Nov. 13, of metastatic colon cancer. He is survived by his wife, Judi, children Michele, Elizabeth and Christopher, and a granddaughter, Olivia.
Biography
For 27 years, Lyal G. Leibrock, MD, was an active participant in the Department of Surgery at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, most recently as professor and department chair. When a neurosurgery training program was approved at UNMC in July 1993, Dr. Leibrock served as its program director.
Dr. Leibrock had an interest in pain, skull base, and spinal surgery. He was a visiting professor at many universities in the United States as well as Shiraz University in Shiraz, Iran, and the China/Japan Friendship Hospital in Beijing, China. He was a fellow of the American College of Surgeons, a member of the Society for Neurological Surgeons as well as the American Association of Neurological Surgeons and the Congress of Neurological Surgeons for which he served on numerous committees, and a founding member of the North American Skull Base Society. He participated in the Council of State Neurosurgical Societies for more than a decade, serving as chair from 1999 to 2001. The CSNS recently honored him with the Distinguished Service Award.
Dr. Leibrock was born in Alma, Kan., Nov. 20, 1940, and raised in California, where he graduated from the University of Southern California School of Medicine. Dr. Leibrock performed a surgical internship at Los Angeles County USC Medical Center from 1969 to 1970. He completed his neurosurgical training at Johns Hopkins Hospital in the summer of 1976 under the direction of A.E. Walker, MD, and Donlin Long, MD, and he then served two years on active duty at the Naval Regional Medical Center, Oakland, Calif.