Obituaries

Karrer, who had planned to retire in a few weeks, was honored at a senior staff retreat held last week at the Buffalo Marriott, and was to be the guest of honor at a university-wide retirement party Friday in Classics V restaurant.

Karrer began his career at UB in 1980 after spending 20 years at the Park School of Buffalo as school business manager, director of development and then headmaster.

A section of The Observer, a publication of the Office of Financial Aid, recently pointed to his many accomplishments, including overseeing implementation of the Voice Response Registration System, the Direct Lending Program and the Tuition Payment Plan. The publication lauded his work on various committees including SEFA and service excellence as well as intercollegiate athletic assignments.

"John's consistent performance made him a member of the professional staff who was both admired and emulated," noted Robert J. Wagner, senior vice president.

Leonard F. Snyder, UB associate vice president and controller, characterized Karrer as a "caring competent professional who strove for excellence in customer service, team building and employee support and development on a daily basis."

Snyder said, "I had lunch this week with Ed Doty (vice president emeritus, office of the senior vice president for university services). "Ed characterized John as a 'total gentleman whose success was tied to his respect for others.'"

Noting that Karrer was a soccer fan whose retirement plans included traveling to France to attend the World Cup, Snyder added, "He played soccer, he coached soccer and followed international soccer."

Karrer was "an exceptional person who throughout his career at UB gave outstanding service to faculty, staff and students each and every day and...set the standard for professional performance at UB and throughout the SUNY system," said Elias G. Eldayrie, director of financial aid.

A member of the board of the Restoration Society, the Lutheran Association for Developmentally Disabled and the Samaritan Pastoral Counseling Center, Karrer was a member of the Scriptores and a charter member of the Buffalo Soccer Club. He also held memberships in the New York State Officers and Bursars Association and the New York State Financial Aid Association.

Karrer earned his bachelor's and master's degrees from UB.

Survivors include his wife of 46 years, Mary; two sons, William T. of Amherst and Mark W. of Clarence; and four grandchildren.

Contributions may be made to the John G. Karrer Memorial Scholarship Fund, c/o UB Foundation, Box 590, Buffalo, NY 14231.

MELFORD D. DIEDRICK, 84, MEDICAL ILLUSTRATION PIONEER
Melford D. Diedrick, 84, the first trained medical illustrator to practice in Buffalo and one of the first in the country, died Jan. 24 in Queenstown, Md., where he had lived since 1982. Diedrick, first director of the Department of Medical Illustration for the UB medical school, retired in 1977.

Diedrick, whose detailed drawings of parts of the human body were considered an important teaching tool for medical students, provided illustrations for texts including "Vaginal Surgery" by Dr. David H. Nichols and the late Dr. Clyde L. Randall. He was major illustrator for three surgical atlases and collaborated with the late Willard Cameron Shepard in providing illustrations for Shakelford's edition of "Callender's Surgery."

A founder in 1945 of the Association of Medical Illustrators, he served as its president in 1963, when he was host for the group's annual gathering in Buffalo.

Many of his drawings appeared during the 1950s in the pioneer medical TV program, "Modern Medicine," on WBEN-TV.

Diedrick studied art in what is now the Rochester Institute of Technology, then continued his studies in medical illustration at Johns Hopkins University. Returning to Buffalo after graduation, he had the task of selling his new profession to the Buffalo medical community. The late Kornel Terplan, a professor of pathology, offered him working space in the Buffalo General Hospital pathology laboratory. To make ends meet, Diedrick also worked as a substitute for morgue attendants and as a cleaner for laboratory animal cages.

In 1936, he became assistant curator of the Pathology Museum for the UB medical school, then located on High Street near Buffalo General, and was named hospital photographer. In 1947, Dr. Stockton Kimball, the late dean of the medical school, named him to the newly created post of director of medical illustration.

A founder of the Cheektowaga Community Symphony Orchestra, Diedrick served as president of its board of directors for 11 years. He was a guest lecturer in medical illustration at the University of Rochester.

His remains were donated for medical research.

GRANT H. HOBIKA, 68, ROSWELL PARK PHYSICIAN, MEDICAL SCHOOL INSTRUCTOR
A Mass of Christian Burial was held Jan. 29 in St. John Maron Church, Amherst, for Grant H. Hobika, 68, former secretary of the medical staff at Roswell Park Cancer Institute and an associate clinical instructor in the Anesthesiology Department in the UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. Hobika died Jan. 25 in his Williamsville home after a lengthy illness.

A 1948 graduate of Colgate University, he received his medical degree from the State University of New York Health Science Center in Syracuse in 1952. He served in the U.S. Navy Medical Corps as a physician with the rank of lieutenant from 1953 to 1955, and remained in the Naval Reserve until 1968. Hobika served as a general practitioner from 1955-1964 in Utica, where he also was Oneida County Coroner and surgeon chief for the Utica police and fire departments.

In 1967 Hobika joined Roswell Park, and after serving as associate chief of the Anesthesiology Department for 13 years he was acting chief from 1986 to 1987. From 1982-95 he was secretary of the medical staff. For 25 years, he was an attending anesthesiologist at Mercy Hospital.

Hobika was co-author of numerous scientific and medical journal articles.

ELFRIEDE FENDT-SICARI, 90, BACTERIOLOGIST, TEACHER OF MEDICAL, NURSING STUDENTS
Elfriede Fendt-Sicari, former chief bacteriologist with the Erie County Health Department, died Jan. 16 in Orchard Park Health Care Center after a long illness. She was 90.

Born in Germany, she came to the U.S. in 1922 and worked first as a secretary for the ophthalmologist Lucian Howe, who encouraged her to pursue a career in the laboratory. In 1926 she became the first student of medical technology in Buffalo General Hospital's training school.

She took additional studies at the University of Buffalo and later taught courses for medical and nursing students at UB. She began working in the labs at the former Buffalo City Hospital, which became Meyer Memorial Hospital, in 1928, and became chief technician in charge of the bacteriological laboratory.

In 1941 she was licensed as a clinical pathologist and was appointed to the Health Department post in 1963. After her retirement in 1973, she translated medical journals from German to English for local physicians.

A past president of the Niagara Frontier Association of Medical Technologists and a member of the American Society of Medical Technologists, she was a member of the New York State branch of the American Bacteriological Society and the New York State Laboratory Association.