Following some years of fight against a malignant disease, Professor Lars Påhlman passed away on Saturday November 21, 2015, at the age of 69.
After Medical School at Uppsala University and a few years with basic surgical training in a district hospital, Lars Påhlman started an enormously successful academic and surgical career in Uppsala, Sweden.
Lars Påhlman had a never-ending interest in every aspect of coloproctology and his contributions in all various areas of our specialty have given echo world-wide. His most profound impact was probably pioneering pre-operative radiotherapy, in particular short-course irradiation, for rectal cancer. His work in this field has been invaluable in the struggle to reduce local recurrences and improve survival for patients.
The European Society of Coloproctology is forever indebted to Lars Påhlman who, from the very start, always and in every aspect promoted our Society’s mission and work. In times of difficulty for ESCP, Lars was a rock and uncompromisingly reliable.
Above all, Lars was a trusted friend of many coloproctologists all over the globe and an inspiration for younger surgeons. Many of us remember how Lars would tell a joke or start to sing a Swedish drinking-song, making everyone smile and feel better. Lars Påhlman has left us all too early and but his contributions and memory will stay.