Berish Strauch, Path Breaker in Reconstructive Surgery, Dies at 90

Berish Strauch, a plastic surgeon whose pioneering procedures and devices to reattach or replace vital body parts included one of the first toe-to-thumb transplants, a device to reverse vasectomies and, perhaps most notably, the first inflatable prosthetic penis, died on Dec. 24 in Greenwich, Conn. He was 90.

His daughter, Laurie Strauch Weiss, said the cause of his death, in a hospital, was respiratory failure.

Beginning in the late 1960s, Dr. Strauch was at the forefront of a revolution in plastic surgery, in particular microsurgery, in which doctors use microscopes and precision instruments to sew together minuscule blood vessels, nerves and ligaments, some thinner than a human hair, said Dr. June K. Wu, an associate professor of surgery at Columbia University who completed her residency under Dr. Strauch.

As the longtime chief of reconstructive surgery at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, Dr. Strauch devised many of the surgical procedures and technologies that are now considered commonplace. Among other achievements, he pioneered techniques to remove excess skin from patients who had lost significant amounts of weight from bariatric surgery — a sort of extreme tummy tuck.

After a New York City firefighter lost his thumb in 1976, Dr. Strauch tried to reattach it. When that proved impossible, he suggested something more radical: taking one of the man’s big toes and sewing it in place of the severed digit.

Not only did the surgery work, but within a few months, the firefighter was back on the job.