Cardiology pioneer Thomas Fogarty dies as 91
Cardiac surgeon and cardiac device innovator Thomas J. Fogarty, MD, passed away peacefully Dec. 28, 2025. He was 91 years old. He received a Presidential Medal of Technology and Innovation from President Barack Obama in 2014, was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame, received more than 190 medical patents, founded or co-founded more than 45 medtech companies and was the head of Fogarty Innovation.
Fogarty created many inventions that fundamentally changed cardiac surgical practice. Among these was the Fogarty balloon embolectomy catheter, which transformed a high-morbidity, high-mortality open surgical procedure for removing blood clots in the legs into a minimally invasive therapy. He also was involved in the creation of the Hancock Tissue Heart Valve that was commercialized in the 1980s; its updated iteration is still widely used today. In addition, Fogarty created the AneuRx Endovascular Aortic Stent Graft, the first device of its kind cleared by the FDA in 1999. This paved the way for the current standard of care for endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR).
Fogarty founded Fogarty Innovation in 2007 on the campus of El Camino Health. It is a medical innovation incubator designed to help startups develop their ideas and bring forward new technologies that improve patient care and lower healthcare costs.
"I feel so privileged to have been able to know Dr. Fogarty for nearly 30 years," Charles Taylor, PhD, chair in computational medicine and a professor of internal medicine at the University of Texas at Austin, said in a LinkedIn post. "He was relentless and uncompromising in his quest to invent medical products and build companies to the benefit of millions of patients. He was larger than life and will be missed!"
Taylor helped start two companies at the Fogarty Institute, Cardiovascular Simulation and Heartflow.
"We outgrew the space available at the Fogarty Institute, but never outgrew the support and advice of Tom," he said.
"We are immensely grateful for all Tom did for patient care, for the medtech innovation ecosystem, and for so many of us personally as a leader, a mentor, and a friend," the Fogarty Institute said in its own statement about his legacy. "His relentless curiosity, refusal to accept the status quo, and boundless imagination reshaped the field and continue to inspire generations of innovators."
Fogarty’s inventive spirit started at age 12, when frustration over being jolted off the back of his friend’s motor scooter motivated him to invent the centrifugal clutch, a technology that is still used today. He turned his love for wine in to an entrepreneurial venture in 1981 when he founded the Thomas Fogarty Winery and Vineyards to share a business with his family, who still operate the winery.
Tom is survived by his wife, Rosalee; their four children, Thomas James Jr., Heather Brennan, Patrick Erin, and Jonathan David; and ten grandchildren.
Dave Fornell has covered healthcare for more than 17 years, with a focus in cardiology and radiology. Fornell is a 5-time winner of a Jesse H. Neal Award, the most prestigious editorial honors in the field of specialized journalism. The wins included best technical content, best use of social media and best COVID-19 coverage. Fornell was also a three-time Neal finalist for best range of work by a single author. He produces more than 100 editorial videos each year, most of them interviews with key opinion leaders in medicine. He also writes technical articles, covers key trends, conducts video hospital site visits, and is very involved with social media. E-mail: [email protected]