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Obituary

Surgeon had a passion for life and for his work

DR. IRVING ESSRIG: 1915-2005. When he wasn't helping patients, the Ybor City native was an avid fisherman with a love of nature.

By MARTY CLEAR
Published January 28, 2005

SUNSET PARK ISLES - Wherever Connie Essrig went with her husband, he was recognized by the sons and daughters of former patients.

In fact, she joked that she wanted to get him a T-shirt that read, "I operated on your mother."

For almost a half-century, Dr. Irving Essrig was one of the most respected and successful surgeons in the Tampa Bay area.

He practiced medicine from just after World War II until he retired in 1995. He maintained a private practice and worked at Tampa General Hospital, St. Joseph's Hospital, MacDill Air Force Base Hospital and Bay Pines VA Medical Center and taught at the University of South Florida.

But most people in Tampa probably knew him through his private practice on Davis Islands.

He died Sunday (Jan. 16, 2005) at age 89 after several years of declining health. He spent his last days in a seventh-floor room at Tampa General; through his window he could see the parking garage on Davis Boulevard that stands where his private practice had been from 1950 until the mid 1980s.

But Dr. Essrig's Tampa roots went back much further. He was born in Ybor City, the son of a cotton broker. The Essrig family wasn't wealthy, but they were better off than their neighbors.

"He was the only kid in his school who had shoes," Ms. Essrig said. "He was embarrassed that he had shoes and they didn't, so he would hide his shoes in the bushes on the way to school."

He graduated from Hillsborough High School at age 15, attended the University of Florida and then went to medical school at Tulane University.

At Tulane he got a message from home. His father couldn't afford tuition anymore. Young Irving would have to quit school. Instead, he worked three jobs and paid his own way through school during the Depression.

After graduation he spent five years in Europe with the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II.

"He always made sure his troops got to take a break and get some R and R," his wife said. "He thought it was important that they get back here and see their families. But he never took a break himself."

He returned to Tampa after the war, opened his practice in general and thoracic surgery, and raised five children with his first wife.

That marriage eventually ended in divorce. But in 1975, Dr. Essrig, an avid fisherman, met his second wife while they were both on a fishing trip in Boca Grande.

When they married four years later, Dr. Essrig was 64 and his bride was 32. But they shared a passion for nature, and the age difference was never much of an issue.

"In fact, I had trouble keeping up with him until he was 80," his wife said. "He worked hard and he played hard."

Dr. Essrig was passionate about his work and spent off-hours reading medical journals.

But every weekend, the Essrigs would return to Boca Grande, where they maintained a fishing cabin.

He was known for a "wicked" sense of humor, his wife said, but he was always serious about his work. As associate dean of program development at the USF College of Medicine, he formed an affiliation between the college and Bay Pines. He served as chief of surgery at both Bay Pines and St. Joseph's.

But as much as he loved practicing medicine, patients always came first. He walked away from his private practice, with no regrets, when he realized he no longer had the stamina for major surgery.

He spent another decade at Bay Pines and finally retired at age 80.

Retirement gave him time to read novels and books about Tampa history. His wife read to him aloud as he lay in his hospital room in his last days.

"He died very peacefully, in his sleep," she said. "I was holding his hand when he died."

Dr. Essrig is also survived by sons Paul, Irving and Matthew; a daughter, Adele Stewart; three grandchildren; one great-grandchild; and a sister.

[Last modified January 27, 2005, 09:34:05]