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Published Monday, February 12, 2001 Obituary: John Haglin, 81, assistant chief of surgery at HCMC Kavita Kumar / Star Tribune In the early 1960s, Dr. John Haglin worked with a team of doctors that transplanted kidneys from baboons into humans. "It was cutting-edge stuff," said Dr. David Anderson, a colleague and friend. "It was really very forward-thinking and that idea -- of transferring [matter] across species -- is just now beginning to come back." Haglin, a vascular surgeon and former assistant chief of surgery at Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC) in Minneapolis, died Friday at his home in Golden Valley from complications of Parkinson's disease. He was 81. "He was one of a cadre of physicians who built [HCMC] into what it is now, which is a superb teaching hospital," Anderson said. In 1970, Haglin performed what is thought to be the first double-lung transplant without also transplanting a heart. He helped develop the Minneapolis Medical Research Foundation and was on its board. Haglin was born and raised in Ironwood, Mich., and received his medical degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. In 1955, he came to what was then called Minneapolis General Hospital as a fellow and became an instructor in surgery, working with medical students from the University of Minnesota. Along with a pioneering group of doctors, Haglin experimented with organ transplants early in his career. Around 1964, Haglin became the director of HCMC's new hyperbaric chamber -- a highly pressurized unit that was used for cancer research and heart surgery as well as for treating gangrene and overexposure to carbon monoxide. Haglin's survivors include his wife, Joan, of Golden Valley, daughters Jan Lund of Fargo, N.D., Sara Tschida of Woodbury, Andra Haglin of New York, Kristen Marx of California, and Leslie Ahrens of Chanhassen, a son, John of Maplewood, and 10 grandchildren. Services will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday at Valley of Peace Lutheran Church, 4735 Bassett Creek Dr., Golden Valley. Visitation will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Washburn-McReavy Edina Chapel, Hwy. 100 and W. 50th St. Kavita Kumar can be contacted at [log in to unmask] © Copyright 2001 Star Tribune. All rights reserved. http://www2.startribune.com/stOnLine/cgi-bin/article?thisStory=83542493 *****************