Early in his career, Dr. Starzl recognized the importance of deceased donation. He pioneered many facets of transplantation, including immunosuppressive drug development, organ preservation, tissue matching, surgical transplant technology, and developed the team approach to organ transplantation; thus paving the way for the success and acceptance of heart, lung, pancreas, intestinal, liver, and kidney transplantation. The international impact of the fruits of seven decades of commitment to transplantation is shown by estimates of over 600 000 Americans and millions of patients around the world that have received a life-saving organ transplantation. He was also credited as having trained over 1,000 medical and surgical transplant specialists over his 50 years in clinical medicine, many of whom have gone on to successfully develop their own transplant