In Memory of Dr. Peter Forbath

Dr. Peter George Forbath passed away on April 19, 2024. He was 98 years old. Peter was born in Debrecen, Hungary on July 1, 1925.

He started medical school in Debrecen in 1943 and completed his medical studies in Budapest following WWII. Upon graduation, he started his internship in pediatrics in Budapest and received his specialty degree in 1953. During that time, he became interested in cardiology and became one of the pioneers to develop the specialty in that part of the world.

In 1949, he was a member of the team that performed the first heart catheterization behind the Iron Curtain. Peter fled Hungary in 1956, and arrived in Toronto in 1957, where he eventually made his way to the pediatrics department at St. Joseph’s Hospital, as well as the cardiology department at St. Michael’s Hospital. During his thirty-year career at St. Michael’s, he founded the Cardiac Catheterization Lab, served as the Director of Pacemaker Services, and was a member of the team to perform the first coronary angiogram there.

While at St. Michael’s, Peter taught Cardiology at the University of Toronto, and from 1980-1985 also taught pediatrics at St. Joseph’s. Along with his work at St. Michael’s Hospital, some of Peter’s proudest accomplishments include convincing the Ministry of Health in Canada to place defibrillators in the country’s major airports, establishing an Electrophysiology Clinic in Timmins, Ontario to serve the Northern communities, and his “retirement project” - co-founding the first children’s walk-in clinic, the Just for Kids Clinic, at St. Joseph’s Hospital in 1992.

Peter was an active member of the Hungarian Medical Association of America, serving as its president from 2001-2003. He was a dedicated member of St. Elizabeth of Hungary Roman Catholic Church for decades.

Peter loved his family, friends, colleagues, and patients, and will be remembered for his gentle manner and unwavering kindness and compassion towards all.