Dr. Edward John Planz, Jr.

Sunset Memorial Park
Funeral Home and Crematory, LLC
1700 Barrington Rd. Midland City, AL
(334) 983-6604
Robert and Toni Byrd

www.SunsetMemorialPark.com

Dr. Edward John Planz Jr., who performed the first open-heart surgery in Dothan in 1986, died Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2015, after a long illness. He was 66.

Born in Texas, Jan 20, 1949, he spent his early years in Connecticut, his family’s home state, before moving with his parents to Tuscaloosa in the 1960s, when his father, a professor of engineering, joined the faculty of the University of Alabama.

Dr. Planz received his medical degree from the University of Alabama-Birmingham School of Medicine. He completed his general surgical training there, and was a cardiac surgical research fellow under pioneer cardiovascular surgeon Dr. John Kirklin. Dr. Planz completed his cardiovascular and thoracic surgery residency in Salt Lake City, Utah. He went into private practice with Peachtree Cardiovascular in Atlanta, Georgia, and was soon heavily recruited to come to Dothan by the late Dr. Paul Rutledge Flowers and the Wiregrass medical community.

Dr. Planz became the inaugural cardiac surgeon to start the open-heart surgery program in Dothan, founding Southeastern Cardiovascular & Associates in 1985. He and Dr. William Hood collaborated to improve state-of-the-art cardiovascular and surgical care in the Wiregrass area at Southeast General Hospital (now Southeast Alabama Medical Center) and Flowers Hospital. Dr. Planz was disciplined, in control, energetic, efficient, and orderly. He practiced cardiovascular surgery for nearly 30 years in Dothan, where he applied his motivation, his loyalty, his surgical expertise, and patient care to ensure the current program’s sovereignty.

The contributions Dr. Planz made by starting the heart surgery program in Dothan while striving to improve the care provided to patients cannot be measured in any terms other than the number of those who are alive as a result of his effort. During his exemplary career as a meticulous, detail-oriented, and exceptionally skillful heart surgeon, he performed more than 12,000 cases.

Dr. Planz was a member of the Episcopal Church of the Nativity, where he sang in the choir and served on the vestry.

A celebration of life service will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 15, 2015 in Episcopal Church of Nativity in Dothan; visitation will immediately follow in the Parish Hall. Shortly thereafter a private recession will be in Tuscaloosa at Tuscaloosa Memorial Park and Chapel for close friends and family.

In lieu of flowers, donations in his memory can be made to the Episcopal Church of the Nativity, the First United Methodist Church of Dothan, or the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network.

Survivors include: his wife, Elizabeth Hollimon Planz, Dothan; two daughters, Dr. Virginia Planz Phelan (Matt), Winston Salem, North Carolina, and Isabelle Planz Homesley (Brent), Florence, Alabama; a step-son, Dr. John Flowers Hollimon, Birmingham; and a brother, niece, nephew, several cousins, and a beloved uncle.

He was loved and respected by his family, friends, colleagues and patients, and will be missed by all.

Robert Byrd of Sunset Funeral Home, (334) 983-6604, is in charge of arrangements. Please call us or visit www.SunsetMemorialPark.com for more information.