TY - JOUR T1 - Gerhard Giebisch and the Gift of Mentorship JF - Kidney360 JO - Kidney360 SP - 977 LP - 981 DO - 10.34067/KID.0004402020 VL - 1 IS - 9 AU - Aronson, Peter S. Y1 - 2020/09/24 UR - http://kidney360.asnjournals.org/content/1/9/977.abstract N2 - Gerhard Giebisch, one of the giants of renal physiology, died on April 6th, 2020, at 93 years of age (Figure 1). He was widely known and admired for his many groundbreaking scientific accomplishments and was beloved for his wonderful personal qualities as an academic leader, educator, advisor, friend, and mentor. Indeed, Gerhard’s life exceptionally well illustrates the enduring gift of mentorship, from the mentors who critically affected his life to his own role as a legendary mentor to dozens of trainees. As the present tribute will provide only a brief summary of his biography, it is strongly recommended to access Gerhard’s own written (1,2) and video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PiuL51OA1Q) accounts of his life to learn more about this truly remarkable man.Figure 1. Gerhard Giebisch.Gerhard was born in 1927 in Vienna, Austria, where he was raised and attended elementary and high school. His first mentors were his parents, neither of whom had a background in science or medicine. His father was a high school teacher of German and French literature who had a special interest in history, and his mother had a love of literature and music. Gerhard developed lifelong interests in history, literature, and the arts, especially music, which he attributed to his parents. His family struggled financially during the economic depression in Austria after World War I, and his high school years were during World War II, with frequent interruption by bombing raids. Nevertheless, he persisted with his studies, including learning English as his second language. Gerhard credited the unconditional love and support of his parents for allowing him to flourish academically amid the economic and wartime hardships of this period.Motivated by his respect for two uncles who were physicians, Gerhard was one of about 1800 entering medical students at the University of Vienna in 1946, from which … ER -