HAMMONTON-Dr. William Zwiebel, the longtime face of Kessler Memorial Hospital, died early Monday morning.
The 60-year-old Ocean City resident and medical director of AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center's Satellite Emergency Department, Kessler Campus, died at about 1:30 a.m. Monday at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia after suffering a ruptured aorta, according to Police Chief Frank Ingemi.
"This community has lost an icon," said Ingemi, a longtime friend of Zwiebel's. "You cannot put into words what Dr. Zwiebel has meant to this community.
Zwiebel - who leaves behind a wife, Nancy, and two sets of adult twins - started at William B. Kessler Memorial Hospital in 1984 and quickly became a well-respected figure in the community.
"Next to the word 'care' in the dictionary, they should really put a picture of him," said Francis 'Butch' Gazzara, Kessler's clinical manager, who worked with Zwiebel for more than 20 years. "He had a phenomenal sense of humor that poured over into the quality care he gave."
AtlantiCare President Donald J. Parker said Zwiebel had the sense of humor of Capt. "Trapper" John McIntyre from "M*A*S*H" and the diagnostic talents of Dr. Gregory House from the popular Fox drama "House"
"He was without a doubt the face of Kessler hospital. In fact, more people probably associated Dr. Zwiebel with that hospital than William B. Kessler himself," said Parker, adding that Zwiebel once personally saved his life after he had gone into anaphylactic shock.
Zwiebel also was praised for his role in keeping the financially strapped Kessler operational under "deplorable" working conditions, in terms of sanitation and available supplies, during the hospital's final months.
"I was asked how we were able to work under such pitiful conditions," Zwiebel told The Press of Atlantic City on March 23. "I said, 'On a wing and a prayer.'"
After Kessler Memorial Hospital closed March 12, Parker said, Zwiebel played a major role in bringing AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center's satellite emergency department to the facility so the community would not be without an emergency room.
Shortly after AtlantiCare's operations at Kessler began, AtlantiCare officials deemed it appropriate to put Zwiebel's face on billboards to promote it.
Parker said the billboards with Zwiebel's picture will remain up, but that a George Bernard Shaw quote will soon be added to them in his memory.
It will read: "I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the community, and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can."
A public viewing for Zwiebel will take place from 10 a.m. to noon Friday at the First Presbyterian Church at Seventh Street and Wesley Avenue in Ocean City.
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1 comment:
If it wasn't for Dr. Zwiebel, I believe Kessler would have folded years ago. Zwiebel was a wonderful physician and spent 25 years caring for patients in that ER. He WAS Kessler and without him, it will never be the same again. Our thoughts go out to his family. May he rest in peace.
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