Obituary to Henri Denolin, one of the first Presidents of European Society of Cardiology
Corresponding author: Paul G. Hugenholtz, Emeritus Professor of Cardiology, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam. E-mail address: wilmathieme{at}chello.nl
Henri Denolin was born on 26 May 1915 to become a famous cardiologist. He was one of the first Presidents of our European Society of Cardiology. He left us on 17 June 2005 after a long and successful career. Our cardiological community will miss his striking personality.
One of the first quotes from him—to sketch his life—is: "Il était entendu que ‘j'entrais en medicine’. L'eventualité d'une autre carrière n'était même pas envisagée. Du côté de ma mère, il y avait un médecin à chaque génération; l'un d'eux, paraît-il, avait même été le premier médecin belge à partir au Congo. D'ailleurs, tout petit, j'étais bien décidé: n'avais-je pas affirmé haut et claire que je serais médecin et que j'inventerais des maladies."
He obtained his MD in Brussels in 1939 with an ‘avec grande distinction’. After the war, the study of the pathophysiology of the cardiovascular and pulmonary systems became his great passion. In 1960, at the Medical Faculty of the Brussels University, he said: ‘C'est devenu mon obsession, je n'ai plus cessé d'être préoccupé par l'interpretation des signes et des symptômes, et c'est ainsi d'ailleurs que je suis devenu professeur de physiologie’.
But, ‘J'ai très tôt ressenti un grand désir de combler une lacune de notre formation en essayant de compenser au mieux les conséquences sociales et psychologiques de la maladie, composante essentielle, à mes yeux, de la réadaptation’. Interest in rehabilitation remained a dominant theme in his life. In 1966, at one of the first World Congresses of Cardiology, New Delhi, he was elected President of the Council of Rehabilitation of the International Society of Cardiology, a post he held till 1979.
‘I have always tried to create permanent bonds of friendship and cooperation between cardiologists, first in Belgium, then in Europe and then, hopefully, throughout the world. Hence, my interest in the World Health Organization and the European Society of Cardiology (I think I may have succeeded at least in the latter case).’
Indeed, for the European Society of Cardiology (ESC), Henri Denolin provided a true landmark. Councillor since 1968, Secretary since 1972, he became its President in 1976 and held the position till 1980. With his imposing stature of some 2 metres, he stood tall above his fellow cardiologists. With some Belgians of his generation—like Henri Spaak—he saw the European message and idea(s) sharp and clear. His consistent efforts to reach out beyond the then formidable Iron Curtain were legendary. I remember clearly his refusal to introduce membership dues to build the financial muscle of the Society. ‘It will make the Curtain still more formidable, as our colleagues from the East will not be able to join’.
He had a similar objection to the creation of the European Heart Journal. ‘They can't pay for it, so ... no’. But the Journal did come and so did the European Congresses with the decision by its Board after the tremendously successful Amsterdam meeting in 1976, followed by Paris (1980) and Düsseldorf (1984) to go annual from 1988 onwards.
Indeed, medical practice being an undoubtedly excellent way of observing the human species, Henri Denolin had no hesitation in giving a clearly favourable judgement on his fellow men. ‘The majority of men are happy to discuss anything and are relatively reasonable. Especially, when taken in isolation. In a group things deteriorate rapidly.’
Yes, Henri believed in informal working groups, such as the Working Group on Exercise Physiology, with its sometimes rather imprecise constitution.
‘This Society together with its study groups is expanding, for the great benefit of cardiology and also international friendship and collaboration in the virtues of which I believe profoundly and I hope myself to have made a small contribution. It is quite possible that my present interest in the social aspects of heart disease and my interest in contact between doctors is an expression of the same aspect of my personality or simply the consequence of an already long career.’
At the time the ESC's formal structure was a collection of national societies, some vying for supremacy, to which Henri Denolin also added several African countries south of the Mediterranean Sea. However, with their slow hierarchical evolution, the rapidly growing numbers of young cardiologists became restless. It seemed wise to some of us to orient their interests around specific areas within cardiology: the working groups were formally created in 1976 and had their first joint meeting in 1978 in Brighton. With their rising numbers, they not only rapidly balanced the General Assembly in voting, but also provided a major step forward in European Cardiovascular Research. Anyway, thanks to him, the Working Group on Exercise Physiology, of which he was the first chairman, has remained one of the many ongoing unifying forces in European cardiology today.
Music was one of his favourite pastimes. ‘Concert de Hautbois en C majeur’, KV 314 by W.A. Mozart—a superb piece of music—was one he liked the most. When asked why Mozart, he replied: ‘After being totally impervious to music in my early years and still incapable of analysing the techniques of even distinguishing one note from another, some thirty years ago I developed a passion for the 18th century works, in particular Mozart. Grace and elegance, strength and often humour characterise the works of the uncontested Master from Salzburg. Perfect and well balanced in all his productions, particularly his great orchestral works, he holds me spellbound and soothes me, even though I am unable to analyse the deep-rooted cause of this attraction.’
When asked once ‘Is the doctor the prototype of a humanist?’ he replied ‘Well, this is undoubtedly an attractive idea, but hardly realistic. Could anyone deny how increasingly difficult it is becoming to master even a limited field, even one's own speciality. It is true, however, that a certain number of doctors do maintain their active interest in a truly wide-ranging culture, and this is a tendency which manifests itself with more age’.
‘Of course I am nostalgic for those great figures of the past, for those heroic doctors form the first half of the 19th century. Corvisart, Laennec! (Ah, the idea of percussion which is said to have been invented by a pub owner who wanted to know the exact level of his barrels!). Obviously I love this image of a good doctor in olden times. Nevertheless, despite all that's wrong with it, the twentieth century was not as bad as all that? If I had been a doctor in the last century, if I had had Madame Bovary as a patient, no doubt I would be much more cultivated than I am now. But I would surely have had much more difficulty in diagnosing her illness and treating it successfully... .’
Henri Denolin, ESC President from 1976 to 1980, will remain in our memory as a unique individual as well as a major contributor to the strong European organization which it is today.
On behalf of the ESC, Paul G. Hugenholtz, President ESC 1984–1988.
With thanks to F.J. Bohle and S. Degré.
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