Victor Warren Fazio

Victor Warren Fazio AO (2 February 1940 – 6 July 2015 ) was an Australian colorectal surgeon, and a leader at the Cleveland Clinic, Ohio for over 35 years. He pioneered surgical techniques and improved the quality of life for cancer patients around the world. He wrote or co-authored 13 books, contributed scientific papers to standard texts, lectured and taught younger surgeons in the United States and Australia.

Early life and schooling Born in Sydney, Fazio spent most of his childhood in Tuncurry and Taree, and was sent to school in Sydney at St. Joseph's College, Hunters Hill, following the death of his father when he was eleven years of age. His father, also named Victor Warren, had won a Distinguished Service Medal while serving with the Royal Australian Navy during World War II. The elder Fazio's second marriage to Katherine Hills produced Victor and his brother Joe. Fazio began his medical studies at the University of Sydney in 1957 and lived in a Legacy hostel for the student sons of men who had died as a result of war.

Career Fazio graduated in 1964, by which time he had played junior rugby league in the Eastern Suburbs competition, rugby for the University of Sydney, and married Carolyn Sawyer in Taree. He completed postgraduate work at St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney, lectured in anatomy at the University of New South Wales and served with the Australian surgical team at Bien Hoa during the Vietnam War.

Death Fazio wife was Carolyn, and he had two sons, Victor and David, and daughter Jane. After failing health, Fazio died in Ohio on 6 July 2015. He is buried at Tinonee, New South Wales.

His younger brother Joe Fazio who predeceased him, was a rowing silver medallist for Australia at the 1968 Mexico Olympics.

Plans are proceeding to establish the Victor Fazio Centre for Inflammatory Bowel Disease at Cleveland Clinic, and surgical suites in his name for digestive disease patients.