Surgeon who helped pioneer key CPR technique dies at 87

MIAMI (AP) - Dr. James Jude, one of the experts credited with pioneering life-saving cardiopulmonary resuscitation, has died. He was 87.

Peter Jude says his father died early Tuesday in Coral Gables after an extended illness. Jude says his father always wanted to help people, noting CPR has saved countless lives.

In the late 1950s, the doctor and two electrical engineers, William Kouwenhoven and Guy Knickerbocker, did research which led to their development of chest compression in 1960. This was later combined with work by others on artificial respiration to become CPR.

The Minnesota native moved to Florida in 1964 to become professor of surgery and chief of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery at the University of Miami School of Medicine and Jackson Memorial Hospital. He maintained a private practice from 1971 until 2000.

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