A Medical Device Daily

Funeral services were held yesterday for James LeVoy Sorenson, a biotech pioneer and entrepreneur whose medical inventions are used in nearly every hospital operating room and intensive care unit in the world. Sorenson, 86, passed away on Jan. 20, following a long battle with cancer.

A medical device inventor who held more than 40 patents, Sorenson is credited with developing the first computerized heart monitoring system. He also invented the first disposable paper surgical mask, the first modern venous catheters and the first blood infusion and recycling systems for trauma and surgical procedures.

He was key to establishing dozens of companies, and was instrumental in the creation of Abbott Critical Care Systems (Salt Lake City), now a part of the healthcare company Hospira (Lake Forest, Illinois), and of a major division of Becton Dickinson (Franklin Lakes, New Jersey).

Sorenson is survived by his wife, Beverley Taylor Sorenson, eight children, 47 grandchildren and 28 great-grandchildren.