F. William Bora Jr., surgeon

F. William Bora Jr., 82, of Gladwyne, a hand surgeon and professor emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, died at home Wednesday, Feb. 23, from complications of head trauma suffered in a fall last year.

Dr. Bora was chief of hand surgery at Penn from 1977 to 1996 and remained on the faculty before retiring in 1998. From 1963 until last year, he was on the staff of the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Philadelphia.

Dr. Bora joined the faculty at Penn in 1962 and established an orthopedic surgery practice in Yeadon.

In August 1965, he performed the first hand-reattachment surgery in the region. Just two months earlier, a North Carolina surgeon had performed the first hand reattachment in the United States.

Dr. Bora's patient had nearly severed a hand while using a metal-slitting machine at work in Collingdale. He was taken to Fitzgerald Mercy Hospital in Darby with his hand dangling.

During the eight-hour operation, as reported in The Inquirer, Dr. Bora, wearing telescopic glasses, affixed the hand with metal pins and reconnected veins. When the two major arteries were connected, color began to return to the hand, and Dr. Bora and his assistants reconnected tendons that control finger motion. They ordered massive doses of antibiotics to combat infection. According to The Inquirer, the patient was doing well five days after surgery.

Dr. Bora was the author of 61 papers published in professional journals and 25 book chapters on orthopedic surgery focused on the hand. He was the author of the book The Pediatric Upper Extremity: Diagnosis and Management, and from 1990 to 1995 was editor-in-chief of the Journal of Hand Surgery.

In the 1980s, Dr. Bora worked with the Fibrous Materials Research Center at Drexel University to develop artificial finger joints for patients with severe rheumatoid arthritis.

Dr. Bora, a native of Summit, N.J., earned a bachelor's degree from Wesleyan University in Connecticut. After graduating from New York Medical College, he interned at the University of Chicago Medical School.

From 1955 to 1957, he served in the U.S. Air Force as a flight surgeon in Korea and Japan.

After his discharge, he completed a residency in orthopedics at Massachusetts General Hospital and Boston Children's Medical Center and completed fellowships in hand surgery at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in England and at Columbia University Medical Center.

He married Ann Gallagher in 1964, whom he had met at a wedding. They raised five children.

A golf enthusiast, Dr. Bora was a longtime member of the Llanerch Golf Club, where he won tournaments. He also played at Indian Creek Country Club in Miami Beach, where he and his wife wintered for 15 years.

"Instead of tossing a ball with us when we were growing up, we played golf," son Christian R. "Bobby" said.

In addition to his wife and son, Dr. Bora is survived by sons F. William III and Brian; daughters Tammara and Fiona; and seven grandchildren.

Friends may call from 6 to 9 p.m., Sunday, Feb. 27, at Stretch Funeral Home, 236 E. Eagle Rd., Havertown. A Funeral Mass will be said at 10 a.m., Monday, Feb. 28, at St. John Baptist Vianney Church, Youngsford Road and Route 23, Gladwyne. Burial will be in St. Denis Cemetery in Havertown.