George J. Horner, 91, physician

George J. Horner, 91, of Newtown Square, a retired physician, musician, and a Holocaust survivor, died of a subdural hematoma Thursday, April 23, at Bryn Mawr Hospital.

In 1942, Dr. Horner and his family were sent to the Terezin concentration camp northwest of Prague, Czechoslovakia. Skilled on the piano and accordion, he played at the camp to provide some relief for those imprisoned there.

Music helped him through the years of World War II and later, to bear the news that the Nazis had killed three family members. Dr. Horner was believed to be one of the last survivors of the Terezin camp. He went on to a career as a physician in America.

On Oct. 22, 2013, Dr. Horner performed on the piano at Boston Symphony Hall alongside famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma in a special concert to commemorate the lives lost in the Holocaust. The event received wide media attention.

When Dr. Horner heard from the concert organizer that Yo-Yo Ma wanted to perform with him, he laughed, he told The Inquirer in 2013.

"I said, 'You don't expect me to swallow that one, do you?' I didn't believe him," Dr. Horner said.

For the concert, he performed two pieces of music that were composed at Terezin and that he had played while imprisoned.

"It's a tribute to many lives," he told The Inquirer. "It's an interesting story but such a tragic one."

Born in Moravia, Czechoslovakia, he was the son of Edmund and Ida Rosenzweig Horner.

His father, mother, and sister died in concentration camps. He survived, despite being forced to do hard labor. He was freed in 1945, after being sent to Auschwitz and then to Buchenwald.

Dr. Horner completed his high school exams and studied medicine in Prague, then escaped from communist-run Czechoslovakia to Sydney, Australia, where he performed music and earned his medical degree.

In 1964, he moved with his wife and sons to the United States and became assistant professor of medicine and director of the cardiopulmonary laboratory at Yale University.

In 1968, the family moved to Philadelphia so Dr. Horner could work at Lankenau Hospital as a heart and lung specialist.

He held a professorship and taught at Jefferson University Medical School, now Sidney Kimmel Medical College. In 1975, Dr. Horner stopped practicing at Lankenau and took a job as vice president of clinical research and development at Wyeth Laboratories Inc.

He continued teaching at Jefferson until 1988 and retired from Wyeth in 1990.

He is survived by two sons, Daniel J. and Michael D.; and two grandchildren. His wife, Lili Ruth Berman Horner, died earlier.

Services and interment will be private.