The classy Grandseigneur is no longer with us. To an incomparable degree, he shaped the development, the establishment and the social recognition of aesthetic surgery in Germany.


After graduating from medical school Gsell went to Canada to receive education in his dream profession: plastic-aesthetic surgery. On his return to Germany, he was one of the first to found a "Clinic for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery Dr.Gsell" set in an exclusive neighbourhood outside Nuremberg. The building itself resembled the Wagnerian music which Gsell was so fond of: tuneful and massive. Though when you entered the clinic, everything seemed light and friendly. His appearance was charming with a masculine figure and a friendly face which rarely lost its mild and understanding smile. His face was framed by shaded grey hair with a stylish moustache, supported by his unintrusive attitude, inspiring unhindered confidence. With his age-less manner, he conveyed the impression of an substitute father or an elder brother.


The whole atmosphere around him was pleasant. His perfume was unobtrusive and the range of topics he showed himself familiar with in conversation was enviable. As a result of his hugely extended education, one could talk to him about anything in the world. He never lectured anyone, he was able to listen and his sense of humour guaranteed a decent conversation to turn out smoothly. He was a real gentleman.
I was at the lowest point of my career when I met the wonderful person that Franz Gsell was. Until the war in Yugoslavia my life had resembled a dream. Suddenly several tough guys stormed in and woke me up. In the course of one night I lost all my belongings. I had to take refuge with 10 certificates and 300 slides. At the age of 46 years I had to start from zero again. I came as a tourist to Germany, not knowing that I was actually a refugee and was not able to get a work permit. After 5 months during which I slept in 26 beds at friends' houses, Gsell offered me a life belt: in 1991 and in 1992 I was living and working at the clinic "Dr.Gsell".


By means of his authority he could easily remove many bureaucratic obstacles for me. After three months of hails of grenades, the silence at the exclusive clinic and its surroundings with its spacious parks seemed to me like an enormous cure. The surgical methods I was familiar with were similar to his surgical repertoire so we got along very well.


As a physician he was unique. He planned and prepared his surgeries very thoroughly and comprehensively while he himself always remained discreet and tactful. He knew that a patient was particularly embarrassed to show the parts of their body they were not satisfied with.


His creative talent was remarkable and as a surgeon he was a virtuoso. In his childhood he had to learn how to write and eat with his right hand, although he was actually left-handed. It was a pleasure to watch him, for example, during a face lift sugery, operating the patient's right cheek with his left hand and the left cheek with his right hand. He would never rush during an operation yet the operations never took long. And he was a perfectionist, never content with a fairly good result. Only the best possible solution was acceptable for him.


In the post-operative phase he exercised Titan-like patience. He lived above his own clinic and was available to his patients any time of the day, even on the weekends. After all, aesthetic plastic surgery was his life. He was also well-versed in the arts and was able to use his artistic sense and good taste in his profession. One day I heard him play the piano. It was Frederic Chopin's A-Major-Polonaise. He was surprised the next day that I had recognized it. He said, every physician in the operating area should be playing an instrument so that his fingers can "sing" during a surgery. Even here he was right.


He loved his city of Nuremberg and provided me with many useful recommendations, told me which sights I should visit. On Sundays he often showed the manifold gastronomy and invited me to his favourite restaurants. As a gourmet he knew how to take pleasure - and never to go over the top. On such occasions, the aesthete presented himself at his best. Once he said to me: "Our club is playing today (1. FC Nuremberg). It sounds slightly insane but somehow I would feel better if they won." His favourite sport however was hiking. "You climb to the top of the mountains to enjoy the view over the valleys from where you have started off."


In terms of professional politics he was untiring. He was one of the seven founding members of the German Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery und at times their president. He held close contact to his colleagues in Germany as well as to colleagues abroad, especially in France. The letters he has written and the phone calls he has done cannot possibly be counted. Thanks to his diplomatic talents he was able to win some of the best foreign plastic surgeons to be our guests at our annual meetings. It was only natural to select him as honorary president of the European Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery.


Once he visited me at my private clinie "Nofretete" in Bonn - Bad Godesberg. He did not consider it below himself to be presented new surgical methods conducted by his former scholar. One week later he wrote to me: "It was almost overwhelming to see such a beautiful clinic..." He was, after all, generous and immune to envy; a benefactor.


What I have been asking of him for years, he has now, in the last weeks of his life, done: He has written a draft of the history of the German Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. Being a perfectionist, he still wanted to elaborate the story, add some details. He did not get the chance to do so. The document, such as it is, remains a valuable piece of credentials for him and for DGÄPC - he was and will remain our doyen.


The German tabloid "Bild" wrote he was "Germany's most popular tit surgeon". But this was not the whole story. He was able to create beautiful eye lids, noses, face and throat lifts, and, in particular, he could bring harmony to various parts of the face and body. Harmony was his leading principle in life and in his profession.


How did his life come to an end? Franz Gsell has led a good life. He matched the definition by Anton Pawlovitch Chechov like nothing else: "In a human being everything needs to be beautiful: not only his face and his suit, but also his thoughts and deeds." Eventually it all reached a very ugly ending. On Sunday, January 5, 2003, at 7 pm, two masked men mugged him in his apartment. With an axe they smashed open the door and severely injured his rib cage. Serial rip fractures, lung bruises ... He called me from the hospital. Maybe he should give up Aesthetic Surgery? His condition got worse, he was moved to intensive care, artificial respiration. Only one light moment: 10 days before his death he woke up for a brief period of time from his coma. He was able to listen to the melancholic music by Frederic Chopin. The murderer and robberer shall be damned.
On March, 26, 2003, at 11.42 pm Dr. Franz Gsell's noble heart could not go on. Now, my dear Franz, you have passed away. Germany lost an outstanding personality, your DGÄPC lost its figurehead and I lost a wonderful endearing friend. Now you have reached the state of final beauty and perfection. You do not need to beautify anything that surrounds you. You cannot make paradise more beautiful than it is, and you have earned to be in paradise.


In Neustadt in Franken you took your last rest and joined your parents on April 1, 2003, at 2 pm. SIC TIBI TERRA LEVIS.


Dimitri Panfilov