Henry Heimlich Dies at 96

Henry Heimlich, the surgeon who created the life-saving Heimlich maneuver, died Saturday in Cincinnati at the age of 96, his son said. “My father was a great man who saved many lives,” said Phil Heimlich. “He will be missed not only by his family but by all of humanity,” he added. He said his father had died after suffering a heart attack earlier in the week. Heimlich came up with the famous procedure to save choking victims while he was director of surgery at the Jewish Hospital in Cincinnati in 1974. The maneuver, which sees rescuers squeeze a choking victim’s abdomen to push air from the lungs and force out any object, has saved countless lives since that time.