Dr. Saul Zigel, former chief of radiology at Northwest Hospital and an expert chess player, died Friday at his Pikesville home of renal failure. He was 91.
"He was a very good radiologist and was very well liked by the staff and administration at the hospital," said Dr. Juan M. Juanteguy, a retired cardiovascular surgeon. "He was very dedicated to whatever he did, and he was very good at following up with doctors when it came to a diagnosis."
The son of Salomon Jose Cygiel, a tailor, and Clara Lerner Cygiel, a seamstress, Saul Zigel was born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he graduated from the Colegio Manuel Belgrano High School.
He served a year in the military and after earning his medical degree in 1951 from the Universidad de Buenos Aires, he began practicing medicine.
After immigrating to Georgia in 1960, Dr. Zigel decided to change specialties and completed an internship at Crawford Long Hospital in Atlanta.
In 1961, he was a house officer at Milledgeville State Hospital in Milledgeville, Ga., and in 1962, he moved to Rome, Ga., where he served for two years as a house officer at Battey State Hospital.
Dr. Zigel moved to Baltimore in 1964, where he spent the next three years completing a residency in radiology at Sinai Hospital. He began working at the old Baltimore City Hospital, now Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, in 1967.
"We have been friends for 51 years, and both completed our residencies at Sinai. He was in radiology and I was in surgery," said Dr. Juanteguy, who lives in Cross Keys. "He was one of the first radiologists to use catheters to take pictures. Saul was always very eager to try new things."
He joined a radiology practice in 1969 at what was then the old Baltimore County General Hospital, now Northwest Hospital, in Randallstown, and in 1973, he was named chief of radiology.
"He was a very pleasant and calm person," Dr. Juanteguy said.
Dr. Pedro Pasik, a retired Manhattan neurologist, was a medical school classmate.
"He was such a great guy. He loved his specialty," said Dr. Pasik. "As a radiologist, he did not have a lot of contact with patients. He was doing procedures such as reading X-rays, which was an important job when it came to arriving at a diagnosis."
Dr. Zigel retired in 1989.
In 1952, he married the former Dr. Eva Langbort, who retired in 1988 as chief of pathology at Spring Grove State Hospital.
Dr. Zigel was a champion chess player and in 1939, when he was 15 years old, he placed first in an international chess championship played in Argentina. In 1962, he was a runner-up in the Georgia state chess championship.
He was an informed listener of classical music, family members said, and a world traveler. He also was a voracious reader of history and a Ravens fan.
"He was very intellectual and read a lot. He was well informed on world issues," said Dr. Juanteguy. "He loved classical music and would be talking to you while listening to opera. He was a connoisseur of both operas and symphonies."
Dr. Zigel was an active member of a group of Argentinian doctors who met once a month to discuss issues, Dr. Juanteguy said. "We are really going to miss him."
Funeral services were held Sunday at Sol Levinson and Bros. in Pikesville.
In addition to his wife, Dr. Zigel is survived by two sons, Dr. Carlos D. Zigel of Mayfield and Leslie Jose Zigel of Miami; a daughter, Ana C. Zigel of Owings Mills; a brother, Mario Cygiel of Argentina; a sister, Sara Branzburg of Israel; and five grandchildren.