E. F. Shaw Wilgis, a medical pioneer in hand surgery who was a co-founder of the Curtis National Hand Center, died Sunday at the Blakehurst Retirement Community in Towson. He was 88 and formerly lived in Ruxton.

“He died in his sleep,” said his wife, Betsy Kane Strobel Wilgis, a retired nurse. “We had 62 magical years together.”

Dr. Wilgis was recognized for his development of a method of treatment of small vessels of the hand. The procedure is known as the “Wilgis sympathectomy.”

“Shaw was an accomplished hand surgeon who was nationally recognized as the best in the field,” said Dr. James P. Higgins, chief of the Curtis National Hand Center. “Despite his incredible accomplishments he spent most of his efforts helping young surgeons become better physicians.”

Born in Baltimore, he was the son of Dr. Herbert E. Wilgis, a surgeon who was the physician for the McDonogh School, and his wife, Margaret Forbes Shaw, a nurse. He was a McDonogh School, Princeton University and University of Maryland School of Medicine graduate.

Dr. Wilgis accompanied his father to what is now MedStar Union Memorial Hospital as a 5-year-old and went on to be a general surgeon.

He took a fellowship in England with Dr. Robert Guy Pulvertaft, a physician who treated fish factory workers with hand injuries. Dr. Wilgis learned techniques of microsurgery there, which he later refined when he returned to Baltimore and began an association with Dr. Raymond Curtis, a hand specialist based at Union Memorial Hospital. They formed a hand center in 1975.

“My husband loved working with children,” his wife said. “He had the technical skills — he called it ‘artistic license’ to help them regain functioning hands.”

Dr. Wilgis became chief of the hand surgical service when Dr. Curtis retired in 1982.

He promoted the medical benefits of hand surgery and through his efforts, the Union Memorial medical specialty was designated by the 103rd Congress to be the only National Hand Center in the country.

In a 1977 Evening Sun article, Dr. Wilgis noted the hand has 27 bones and 22 separate tendons. “There is no greater surgical challenge,” he said.

Dr. Wilgis stepped down as chief of the hand center in 1998 and became its first director of research. He mentored and trained more than 100 hand surgery fellows. He was later chair of the MedStar Health System board.

He had numerous sports figures as patients, including Orioles outfielder Fred Lynn and boxer Vincent Pettway.

“Shaw was larger than life, an imposing figure who would command the presence in a room,” said a colleague, Dr. Michael A. McClinton. “He was a pioneer in surgery and developed procedures that other surgeons use. He was amazingly skillful in the surgical trade.

“He had huge hands but did the most delicate surgery on the hands of little children. He just naturally let his fingers do the job,” said his colleague, Dr. McClinton.

Dr. Wilgis was a nationally recognized academic leader. In 1987 he became president of the American Society for Surgery of the Hand and was later named a “Pioneer of Hand Surgery” by the International Federation of Societies for Surgery of the Hand.

Another colleague, Dr. Stuart Bell, said, “Shaw Wilgis had common sense. And while he loved making a difference in his patients’ lives, he also was a leader who could get a job done.”

As a student, Dr. Wilgis was a Baltimore Colts usher at the old Memorial Stadium and followed the Ravens and Orioles. He played rugby and tennis and enjoyed water and snow skiing.

A memorial Mass will be held at noon Feb. 15 at St. Ignatius Roman Catholic Church, 740 Calvert St.

In addition to his wife, survivors include two sons, Randolph Shaw Wilgis, of Camden, South Carolina, and Edward Ford Wilgis, of White Stone, Virginia; a daughter, Elizabeth Claire Gonder, of Timonium; seven grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.

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